


There's Always More Than Meets The Eye

by momorawrzzz



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Cheating, Child Death, Divorce, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Genderswap, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Multi, Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Same-Sex Marriage, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2019-10-02 05:00:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17258030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/momorawrzzz/pseuds/momorawrzzz
Summary: Everyone has secrets, but things always find a way out.. and what if one's withheld information could explain so much, and not just about them. Pasts are not always easy nor are they alway fun, ups and downs, things one would rather not dwell on or even recall, but all these things make them who they are today.What happens when Regina Mills, a lawyer, happily married to her wife Mal, meets a younger blonde, a stripper who goes by the name of Cinnamon?There's more beneath the surface, there's more than one tells, because sometimes one keeps things thinking they are protecting another, when really..They're hurting..Slowburn SwanQueen ... AU ... DragonQueen & SwanQueen occurSwanQueen is Endgame





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> I have tried my best to tag for any possible triggers in this work I am submitting, so please read through them.
> 
> This fic was an idea given to me by a dear friend and I was told to make it come to life so here it is, I hope I am doing it justice and that you all enjoy.
> 
> Give it a kudos or a comment if you like and I hope you stay for the entire ride.
> 
> Thank you and Enjoy!

She quickly grabs her purse from its place on the kitchen counter and all but runs out of the room, exiting the penthouse. She’s in tears but she doesn’t care, swiping at her eyes as she punches the button to summon the elevator, praying that it isn’t too far from the floor as she knows the other woman will soon be on her tail coming outside to finish her yelling. The machine isn’t quick enough, “Regina! Do not walk away from me right now!” there’s a hand gripping her forearm within seconds after the shouts and she nearly yelps, but after years of this she’s trained herself not to react to such things, not verbally so at least, and even her face remains neutral most times. 

They hadn’t always been like this, Mal hadn’t, there had been years where it seemed they would never exit the honey moon phase of their marriage, times when the brunette hadn’t felt like she needed to overwork herself just to stay out of their home if the blonde wasn’t going to her own office but rather working from their upscale apartment on any given day. One day things had started to change, it hadn’t just suddenly and abruptly happened, looking back now though the lawyer could definitely see where the turning point had begun, but by the time she had realized just how bad things were, how out of control her wife was, it was too late, and she was far too weak to even think of leaving her. Glimmers of what once was occurred so often, it wasn’t all bad all the time, just somedays the fiery tempered woman would slip into the newer developed ways of the more recent years. At the end of the day though Regina Mills blamed herself for the change in her partner.

 

\- - - - 

[Two Years Ago..]

She knows she’s drank a bit too much, knows she should probably stop but she and Mal had their first big argument today, yes of course they had fought before, all couples had spouts, but this had been bad. The topic of which it was about was something that she held near and dear to her heart on top of the hurt and sting of it being their first blow up, she hadn’t brought it up for a few years as she wanted to be more than financially ready for such a step, she wanted to be mentally ready as well as it was no light task and it would be a permanent change, not something that could be undone the next day. She’d finally brought up the subject of adopting a child. Her chances of actually carrying one were nonexistent, she was infertile, she’d gone to the doctors (behind her wife’s back) for the tests to see if it would even be possible before then fully researching costs and everything else to do with the adoption process. Looking back perhaps hiding the interest and the appointments hadn’t been the smartest as they were other offenses added to her slate when the discussion that quickly turned to an argument had begun, but what was done was just that. Done. 

She waves down the bartender and quickly asks for another two shots of tequila, she just needed to numb herself, to not feel, because right now feeling meant pain, and heartbreak, it meant feeling as if her world was slowly cracking, falling apart around her, feeling as if she were drowning. She wanted a family, wanted to be a good Mother, not like the one she had, and in the end even since finding out that she wouldn’t be able to carry; have one of her own, had hurt it had given her the idea that she could give a child who didn’t, who hadn’t had a good home, a good family those things. 

She hears the buzzing vibration of her phone against the countertop that she’s placed it down upon, sees the name that lights up the screen showing who the call is from, but she doesn’t make any move to pick it up, she doesn’t want to answer, doesn’t want to talk to her wife in this moment. The shots are brought to her and she downs them both and asks for another two, her head is beginning to spin, she stands and puts the money down that she owes the bartender for the drinks she’s had and just ordered, “Hold them for me until I get back, I need a smoke,” he nods and watches her sway slightly as she stands and makes her way towards the door. 

It was a nasty habit she’d picked up, she had quit, but anytime she drank heavily like tonight, which wasn’t very often, she craved one. Knowing her plans to go to the bar as soon as she’d left her home after the shouting and tears Regina had made sure to swing by the corner store to grab a pack. She fumbles for her lighter, also recently purchased, and sparks the cigarette taking a long drag, slowly exhaling the smoke, she leans against the wall of the establishment behind her and looks up at the starry sky. What she doesn’t notice now is that her phone remains on the bar, by her place, and now as she takes slow drags she manages to miss another two calls, another piece of unknown is that her wife could find her phone, she’d never turned the service off because she hadn’t known about it and the lines were under Mal’s name. 

She exhales the smoke and takes a deep breath letting her eyes fall closed as she fully rests against the wall behind her, meanwhile Mal is switching the find phone on when she realizes the brunette is at a bar, that bar specifically causes her anger only intensifies, she storms out of their apartment and makes her way to the establishment. As Regina lights up a second cigarette, as she takes two pulls just as her wife turns into the lot and parks, she’s unaware of the imminent fight that’s sure to go down once she spots her, she doesn’t register it in her alcohol riddled mind as there are headlight suddenly bright and blaring in front of her. That orange-white glow that comes behind your eyelids when they are closed and it’s far to bright appears for the lawyer and only then does she force mocha orbs open, to face whatever, or whomever it is shining in her line of sight. 

Mal steps out of the car, she doesn’t even bother to turn it off, she hadn’t even had to step foot in the bar, no she’d pulled up to see the woman right there in front of her.. smoking? She wonders for a fleeting second when the darker woman had picked that habit up again, she stalks forward and Regina gasps dropping the stick in between her fingers to the ground as her eyes go wide. 

“Regina! What the hell do you think you’re doing? Smoking? I thought you had quit? Or were you lying about that too? Oh I’m sorry not lying, just not telling me,” it had been one of the weak arguments the brunette had given her during the initial blow up, when she’d brought up the fact that she was on calling lists, that she had gone to the doctors, met people specializing in adoption and the process. 

“Mal I-I can explain, it’s just..” but she’s cut off in her words, she doesn’t have time to finish whatever thought or words she had been forming because the blonde has grabbed ahold of her upper arm.

“Get your phone and come on we’re going home and I’m not going to even try to get through to you right now as you’re eyes can’t even seem to focus on me,” she snarls and the brunette feels so small in that moment, so young, she is younger than the other woman but she feels significantly so, like a child being scolded, a teenager having shown up on their Mother’s doorstep drunk from some party they’d snuck out to. She swallows thickly and bites back tears, she’s not happy with her own actions either, she didn’t know what she had planned to do after a few more drinks, didn’t know where she had thought she would be spending the night. 

The device is retrieved and she’s helped into the passenger’s seat by her wife, she can feel the anger wafting off of the older woman, can see the way her jaw clenches, she didn’t like this one bit, and after the way Mal had blown up back at their flat she honestly didn’t know what to expect the next morning after she woke, sober. The drive is short but it feels longer as the silence stretches on between them, it was a worse feeling than being told off, sitting in the silence, and when they arrive the valet comes to find them parking and the blonde all but drags Regina along and to the elevator getting them up to their home. 

“Get your ass a shower and we’ll talk about this tomorrow, shower and then bed, and I swear if you puke on me,” she grumbles and storms off towards their room, the brunette doesn’t make it to the bathroom though, she makes it to the couch where she collapses onto it and breaks down crying. She had only wanted a child, she had found she couldn’t have one of her own, but they could adopt, but the way her wife had reacted to it all was just something she hadn’t expected, did Mal really dislike children, the thought of being a Mother that much?

Minutes pass and the blonde doesn’t hear the shower running so she comes back out of their room, in her pajamas now, she sees the small woman sobbing, curling into herself on the couch and her heart shatters, she hadn’t meant to hurt her like this, but she had her reasons for not wanting children, her own or adopted to become her own, she just couldn’t.. and she couldn’t explain it to Regina either, because that meant bringing up things of her past that she’d never told her. She feels like a giant hypocrite with keeping things hidden, doing to the younger as she had accused her of, not lying just hiding, not telling it all. 

She slips onto the couch and pulls the shaking form to her, wraps her arms tightly and securely around the brunette, “I’m sorry Regi, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to lose it like that, I love you, you know I do,” and they remain tangled together as the lighter woman rocks them as much a she can to get the other into a peaceful sleep. 

 

\- - - - 

[Back to Present]

“I have to go to work dear,” the brunette spits out the word, she was not going to stay home a minute longer when Mal was on one of her down cycles in whatever it was that she had kicked off two years ago, she yanks her arm from the others grasp and the elevator opens, she steps inside punching the door close button repeatedly trying to get it closed but to no avail, the blondes hand comes to hold it open.

“We will talk about this later, if you’re even coming home before midnight tonight that is,” she hisses, “I still hope you know I don’t buy for one minute that you’re simply working,” and mocha orbs roll, no she didn’t always work when she stayed that late, sometimes she’d sleep on her couch in her office, just to stay there longer, just to avoid coming home to this, she was getting sick and tired of it all, she didn’t deserve this, and maybe the older woman hadn’t deserved the bullshit she’d put her through those years ago but still.. if they weren’t happy why didn’t they just leave? 

The elevator door closes and she sighs, a phone call, that had started all of this, because she hadn’t ever managed to find her list of calling lists, she hadn’t been able to rescind each and every application she’d put in, she had asked to be put on waiting lists after all, so she had come out of the shower to Mal holding her phone out to her, shoving it into her hand, telling her that she best not be planning to bring a child home one day without telling her anything of it. Regina had snapped at that, the downside to them from day one had always been that they both had quite the tempers, but in the beginning they had never fought, or not to this extreme at least. 

\- - - - 

Meanwhile on the other side of town another blonde, a much younger one, is making her way home from work rather than going to, she drags herself up the flights of steps to her apartment and knocks softly on her neighbors door, “Rubes?” she calls out softly. It had been her friends night off, and of course it had ended up being a long night, one of those where some rich bastard had rented the place for the night, night which had quickly become her getting off at six and the journey home took time, it was now 7:06am. 

Ruby makes her way to the door but she’s quickly outrun and beaten there by the tiny boy who flies towards the door at the sound of his Mother’s voice, “Mommy!” he cries out reaching for the knob and yanking the wood open, Emma grins from ear to ear.

“Hey kiddo,” she drops the duffle bag from her shoulder that contains the inappropriate clothing she wears to work, she’s in a pair of sweats and a baggy hoodie for now, she always caught a shower and a change before leaving the establishment, she wouldn’t expose her son to what she did, “Did Rubes take good care of ya? Were you good for her and Gran?” he nods excitedly. His small arms come to wrap around her legs and she chuckles bending down to scoop her five year old son up, she didn’t care if he protested some days that he was too big for it, he was small for his age for one and two she was sure she’d pick him up for the rest of his childhood if she could. 

“Course I was good! But Mommy I don’t wanna go school,” he huffs and pouts out his lower lip as he wraps his arms around her neck and buries himself into her, she frowns, she hated having to send him to school, hated having to leave him so much, but sometimes she got stuck on the late shift, it was more money though so she couldn’t exactly say no, they needed as much as they could manage after all.

“Did you have a bad night Hen?” she asks trying to move her head to a better angle to take a look at his face, his head shakes but as she glances to her friend and sees Granny come from the kitchen with a small breakfast made for the boy, they both mirror that sad look in their eye. The blonde swallows hard, there was nothing worse than this, than coming to pick him up and find out it hadn’t been a good night, her little boy was sick, it was one of the main reasons they had moved here in the first place, better doctors, but it cost a lot more money. 

Emma Swan was a young Mother, she was soon turning 22, she’d had Henry at 16, been a runaway and in and out of the system her whole life, an orphan. She’d fallen in love; or so she had thought she had, with his father who had been older, 18 at the time she’d found out she was pregnant. He hadn’t offered any kind of support, the promises of being together forever had ceased after they’d argued over her getting an abortion, she couldn’t do that, she knew it wasn’t fair to the small being growing inside of her, so she’d dropped out of school and run off, gone to make it on her own, after Henry had been born she’d started dancing. As she wasn’t legal she’d only been allowed to dance, not strip or do anything extra like many of the girls did. She’d met her first girlfriend there, a fellow dancer, though she was older so she had also stripped but she had no specials on her list, Jasmine, that had been her name, but after a year of being together the blonde had found the woman she was slowly falling for was leading a double life of sorts, she had a boyfriend Al the entire time, and the young teen wasn’t going to deal with that and all that type of situation could become. 

She’d finally hit the legal age and gone to a different place all together to begin stripping, it was more money after all and she’d wanted to get herself and Henry a better place to stay, but then Henry had begun to show signs that something wasn’t quite right, he was having many nights he’d wake in a sweat, he’d started dropping weight and for someone so young of course it had sent off red flags in his Mother’s mind, had her realizing that something was wrong with her little boy. They’d gone to the hospital and she’d been glad for her career for the first time in a long time that day as the bills had been costly, he was put through a series of tests, they’d sat for what felt like forever trying to get any information out of Henry about if he had any issues with his body and such but trying to get information out of a only just three year old wasn’t an easy task, so they’d gone home and he’d been closely monitored while the test results were waited upon. 

Little Henry Swan had diabetes, but not the more common type (type two), no he had type one, or childhood diabetes, and Emma had hated for once that she didn’t have the background information on her parents, without having been with them, having their history medically nor otherwise she hadn’t had any way to really know this was coming or expect it, and she most certainly did not know nor ever care enough to find out about her son’s father and his family background. She’d been young it hadn’t been something she’d thought about at the time, and then add in how she’d run off and become a member of one of the local woman’s shelters just to have a place to stay, a roof over her head, food for her and her unborn son, and well suddenly taking a medical history was just not a priority. 

“Hen did you have your medicine this morning yet?” she asks the boy softly, it’s Ruby who answers with a shake of her head before she finds words.

“He refused it, pushed it away and screamed for you,” the blonde’s heart aches, she truly hated having to leave him and she knew that he didn’t like his medicine or treatments when it wasn’t her helping, he was definitely a Mama’s boy, had an attachment to her, it had always been just the two of them for so long, even when she’d dated, had flings she had never brought them by her son, not right away nor all the time . She didn’t trust many with him and the little one was not exactly easily accepting of new people either. 

“Hen, come on kiddo, we’ve got to get you feeling better,” she whispers softly into his ear and he nods into her shoulder, “Thanks for watching him Rubes,” she offers a one armed hug and quick peck on the cheek, “And thanks Gran,” she follows suit and turns towards the door grabbing her duffle up, “I’ll keep you guys posted, swing by later if you want.” 

With that the blonde woman makes her way back out and to her own door, she unlocks it and kicks it open, she doesn’t want to put her son down and she thinks he’d protest either way with how nuzzled into her neck he is at present. She drops her duffle onto the couch and makes her way to her room, “Alright buddy let me get your medicine,” she kept one stock in their home and a smaller stock was kept by their neighbors as Henry spent time there regularly. He groans as she lowers him onto the bed but then quickly scrambles up to her pillows and slips under the blankets making himself comfortable, he was exhausted and she could see it in his face, “I’m going to get you a little snack too and then we can lay down, get a little nap in extra, remember you’ve got to let me know if you feel worse.”

“I will Mommy,” he curls up and waits for her to come back.

 

\- - - - 

Regina Mills grabs her usual cup of coffee from the break room at the firm, two sugars, no milk, and heads into her office to sit down and start the work day. The brunette let’s out a sigh, she hated mornings that started off like this, started with an argument right away. She thinks she’ll pull a late night tonight perhaps even sleep on the sofa she has in her office, it wasn’t the preferred place to sleep but she had bought a very comfortable model in the past year after realizing the previous one had given her such pain after a week of avoiding home.

The hours fly by with meeting clients, discussing cases and details of them with clients as well as her coworkers in order to get a better understanding of it all whilst trying to make sure her case would be solid and earn her a win. Her sometimes partner enters after a knock, “Hey, want to join me and a few others? We’re going to go blow off some steam, have a drink or two, you look like you could use it,” she sighs looking up and then glances down at her phone, no calls, no messages, Mal was still pissed most likely was what that meant so she debates it for a moment. 

“Is it far from here?” he shakes his head.

“Just around the block,” she nods and pushes her chair back to stand, grabs for her purse and picks up her phone before deciding that she should just leave it behind, she didn’t need Mal randomly showing up or deciding now was the time to call her, she was going to go out and enjoy and just forget for a little while. 

When they get to the front of the building the brunette’s eyes widen as she takes in the name and knows what it is, it’s not just a bar, it’s a strip club as well, she swallows thickly, this was not what she had thought Steven had meant when he’d said they would go and blow off some steam, she is really glad she’s left her phone behind now, because oh if her wife were to find her here.. she shudders at the thought and follows Jeffery, Steven and Max inside. They go straight to the bar and all order a round of drinks before making their way to one of the couches that doesn’t have a table in front, her eyes trail around as she takes in the black-lights and how the stage, the decorations, the polls, what the girls wear all glows in it. She’s never done anything like this, yes she and the guys had gone out for drinks before, time and time again after a long day or stressful cases, but this? A strip club.. she would never come to this place on her own or if she had known this was where they had planned to bring her, but she figures she can just have a few drinks and then make her way back to the office, use the excuse of she’d left her phone to charge and needed to grab it before heading home, they didn’t need to know that she was going to once again be sleeping on her couch. 

“So who wants a lap dance?” It’s Max that breaks the silence, tears her from her thoughts, and she shakes her head bringing her glass to her lips, maybe she needed to order another drink now if she was going to have to sit through this, through watching her coworkers pay for women to grind all over them for money and tips. She didn’t like the idea of it, but then again it was a job and that’s what it was to these women, the more of an act they put on the more money went into their pockets.. or well panties. 

“I believe I’ll pass,” she says keeping her tone neutral to not give anything of her inner thoughts away of how she doesn’t like this one bit. Steven says he’ll think about it and Jeffery who’s sat right next to her says he’ll definitely go for one and suddenly she feels she should slide further down the couch length and separate herself from these men, let them do their own thing and just go sit at the bar before heading out. 

“Oh come on Mills,” Jeff shoves into her arm with his own, “Ya gotta have some fun, loosen up,” he chuckles and she shakes her head, if Mal ever found out, that was all she could think of, they were already on thin ice from this morning, another argument in progress, she did not need to add any fuel to the fire, give her anything else to hold over her head. “There’s even a nice blonde one over there, tell me that doesn’t sound nice,” and his arm raises to point her out and Regina doesn’t know why she does so but she actually looks up and follows the finger, her eyes fall onto the woman he’s suggesting. 

She swallows thickly because he was spot on, from all of the other’s she’d seen around this one would definitely have been the one she would pick for herself. She can’t see too much detail due to their distance from each other and the dim lighting but the blonde isn’t bad looking, she looks to be only slightly taller than she, her long blonde curls falling loosely down her back as she makes her way up onto the stage and towards a pole, and when she grabs ahold of it and lifts herself up theres no mistaking that those arms are muscular. As her legs come up as well the brunette knows she has to have core and leg strength too, and she suddenly comes out of her haze as her dark haired coworker next to her clears his throat. 

“I take it you’re interested?” he grins and before she can open her mouth to protest he’s standing, walking right up towards the stage and calling the blonde to him, she sees a bill she can’t make out the amount of from the distance but the woman smiles and hops off the stage tucking it into her g-string as she follows him back towards the couch. Regina’s panicking, her throat is closing she swears, she is not about to do this for real is she? 

“You can call me Cinnamon,” the woman says coming to stand right in front of Regina, “Or whatever you’d like to in all honesty,” she gives a flirty wink parting her legs to straddle the business woman’s lap, her arms coming up to loosely circle the darker woman’s neck. Her hips slowly start to gyrate with the music, she tosses her head back to have her hair fall down her back which puts the cleavage in the barely there bra on perfect display. Mocha orbs dart down to the glitter covered chest, the ample breasts right there, and then dart back up to catch deep emerald orbs. 

Regina’s mouth goes dry and she swears she’s forgotten how to breathe.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys ! Thank you so much for the kudos and comments ! I'm glad everyone is enjoying so far ! Here goes more , heads up that the angst is slowly but surely creeping in and things will of course get really angsty down the road but for now still a bit light for me aha . Anyways let me know what you think and I hope to get more writing and editing done sooner so you all don't have to wait as long for this next update , fingers crossed . 
> 
> Read and Enjoy .

The blonde woman in front of her is beautiful, her jaw nearly drops but she controls herself for the time being. There’s something about the way she has that light makeup on, even for her career path she doesn’t seem to be the overly girly type, even her skimpy undergarments though barely there weren’t glitter and glam, they seemed rather simple, just a deep emerald green that seemed to (in this lighting at least) match her eyes perfectly. The black-light catches the little bit of glitter on her chest, it’s a white or sheer color she can’t quite tell, and by how it’s solely on her breasts and not the entirety of her body the brunette would bet that she hadn’t applied it, one of the other girls perhaps as she’d dorned a dark outfit for the night and it was clearly the night of the purple bulbs all above and around. She doesn’t quite register it as the blonde takes her drink from her hand before taking a sip, holding the straw between her teeth afterwards, a grin on her face before she simply holds it out to the side and Jeff quickly takes the hint and holds it. The arm returns to mirror her other around the olive woman’s neck and she presses her crotch down more firmly now, Regina pulls herself out from her fog, the music suddenly seems so much louder, it thrums in her ears, ‘Cinnamon’s’ hips sway in time with the beat, not only does she manage to move them side to side but she rolls them forward and back seemingly simultaneously. She doesn’t know when it occurred but her own hands are on those smooth pale hips, it’s a light hold, a barely there touch, tentative almost and the blonde atop her chuckles. 

“You’re lucky you’re as hot as you are because I usually go by the rules of no touching without putting out more,” she leans in close to her ear and drops her voice down to a low husk, “We could always go for a more private setting if you want to,” she offers it knowing already by the older woman’s reactions to all of this that this is most likely her first dance and there’s no way in hell unless she’s drunk that she’s going to just spring for a private room but the blonde plants the seed, so that maybe she’ll come back another time or two. The lighter woman had taken in her and her partners, friends whichever it was they were upon arrival, they wore suits, dress clothes, they had some form of higher paying job and she knew that meant money, unhappy marriages, too many hours and a need to just let loose, she knew the type, she’d been in this work for some years now. 

As she sits back up the woman before her shakes her head, “No,” she says barely a whisper and she doesn’t know what possesses her to utter the next words that follow the soft-spoken ‘no’ but she sure as hell let’s them slip from deep ruby lips, “Not this time,” and internally she’s screaming, yelling at herself to find some excuse to leave, to go back to the office, to just not be here, because she hasn’t even had an entire drink yet and she’s saying her thoughts aloud. She quickly extends her hand to her right and Jeff hands her the drink he’d taken to hold earlier, she doesn’t even use the straw, just pushes it out of the way and chugs the remainder of the alcohol in the glass. It burns her throat on the way down but she doesn’t even care, she needs another, about two minutes ago she did when this woman had made her way over and spread her legs to take up residence on her lap. 

Max decides then and there that he’s getting one of his own and stands to go off and find just that, he may even go for a private room, Steven follows suit and Jeff stands to go and get refills for himself and Regina, this of course leaves just her and the woman moving so deliciously on her. She’s never this much of a mess, the brunette always prides herself in her composure but she’s falling apart right now, not trusting herself to speak and she doesn’t know why, she’s not that affected by this is she? 

As she’s handed another drink she goes to bring the glass to her lips but Cinnamon stops it, grabs it from her hand and holds it away teasingly, “Mind if I have some?” she gives a toothy grin before taking a small sip, some nights she’d just sip occasionally, she never seriously drank, she had to get home safe after all and she couldn’t be inebriated and keep an eye out for herself here at the same time, some of the girls would do more than that but she just didn’t want to nor see it as helpful in any way to herself, but a little buzz to start off her night or end it was nice from time to time. She now removes her other arm from it’s place so that she can hold the straw forward to the darker woman with one hand and the glass with the other. Luscious red lips part to take the straw and sip down about half of the drink their eyes never leaving each others and that’s when she snaps herself out of it all, and grasps the glass.

“I think it’s time I finish up and head back to grab my phone,” she murmurs and the younger woman cannot help but to frown slightly.

“Well then until next time..?” she leaves it off as a question clearly asking for her name. 

Regina pauses in her reply not knowing if she should really tell her or let it remain a mystery, after all she doesn’t know the woman’s real name, but then again that was a part of her job, not the brunette’s, “Mills,” she offers a tight lipped smile as the woman she really didn’t mind having in her lap or on her stands and Jeff slips a tip into her g-string. 

“Well then Mills, until next time,” and with that she winks before turning to rush back towards the stage, dark orbs are focused on the pert ass visible to her as the other recedes. 

 

\- - - - 

 

Regina wakes the next morning on her couch in the office and checks the clock on the wall, 6:27am, she groans and lays back down, she didn’t need to get up just yet but what difference would three minutes make at this point, she needed to make her way down and out to the gym to steal a shower and change, do her makeup and come back looking fresh either way. They opened at seven so she could grab a cup of coffee beforehand, she was going to need it, she’d need to go home today, tonight, and not at one of her infamous late times that clearly showed she was avoiding her wife. She grabs for her phone, she has several messages and a handful of missed calls, most of them from Mal, one missed call makes her stomach sink though, makes it twist in knots.. her Mother had called. 

Before anything happened this morning she needed to call her back, she was not looking forward to this conversation, she never did look forward to them, her Mother and her relationship was, to simply put it; complicated. She feels like a child scared of being caught in a lie as she rings the number, it doesn’t even ring once fully before it’s picked up.

“Regina, please tell me the excuse for not going home last night was a legitimate one and not one of your false claims you have a journal of to use,” she feels the anger even though her Mother keeps a neutral, seeming unaffected tone. 

“I slept at the office,” there’s no point in lying to her, there never was because Cora always saw through Regina’s attempts at deceit, “Mal and I had an argument and I didn’t hear from her all day so when it came time to go home I simply stayed here.”

She hears the disapproving look, if that was at all possible, she can feel the eyes on her though she clearly knows her Mother is not in the room with her, not actually looking at her. “I see, so that would be why you could not or did not choose to answer the calls or messages from your wife?”

Regina wishes now that she’d had half a brain to check her phone when she’d arrived back at the office to sleep, she wonders if the time stamps would be from when she was out or after she’d returned, if she could even possibly lie her way out of this. “I didn’t have my phone on my person Mother, I went out for one drink with the team after we finished, came back and went right to sleep,” it wasn’t an entire lie, but then again nor was it the entire truth, maybe this would save her though, Cora wouldn’t pick up on the lack of entire truth would she? 

“You need to go home to her, and tell her the truth, she’s worried sick,” is the sharp short reply and with it Regina realizes that her Mother does not buy the story as being the entirety at all, her chest tightens and she simply nods, letting out a soft sigh. 

“Yes Mother, I just have to do two meetings this morning and then I shall head home, is she working from home today?” she didn’t see a point in calling or messaging Mal to see if she was home, she already assumed she was but she knew Cora and her wife had to have spoken last night as well as this morning. 

“Very well,” and the lawyer doesn’t get a chance to even utter another word as she hears the dial tone, her arm drops, phone falling to the cushion beside her and her hands come up to her face as she lets out the deep breath she’d been holding. 

 

\- - - - 

The brunette feels almost as if she’s doing the infamous walk of shame up to the doors of the building, and she doesn’t even make it to the elevator before she hears a loud gasp and she half expects shouting to follow as mocha orbs don’t even need to look at the source of the sound to know who had just walked in behind her. Suddenly strong arms come to slip around her waist tugging her close and she feels the warmth of tears as her wife buries her face in her neck, “Thank gods you’re alright , when your Mother couldn’t even get a hold of you..” and the emotional roller coaster of their relationship begins anew, the fighting, the nights spent apart, back to the being missed, the apologies would come next and then her wife’s anger would re-spark and she’d hear an earful before they finally both calmed and it was back to the ‘I love you’s’. Regina wasn’t feeling it today though, because if only Mal knew where she had actually been, what she had actually done, how her mind still flitted back to the younger blonde, the way that body had moved so fluidly to the rhythm spilling from the speakers last night. The darker woman couldn’t shake the thoughts of how she wanted to go back and see the woman again, why was she having such things cross her mind? Was she really that unhappy with the woman clinging to her now? They didn’t always argue, it wasn’t a constant, but when they did.. it was just bad. Their tempers would flare, Regina would always attempt to walk away first knowing that if things got to a certain level the blonde was better off left to stew and she would then work herself out of it as she had done now, but other times the only way to calm the fire was to fight it with fire, to get into each others faces and spit out words they knew they couldn’t simply take back but they would pretend that they could, that they did, until the next time though and it would all be dragged back to the surface. 

She just wishes that she hadn’t done all she had those years ago, that she had just talked to Mal about it all first but no, she’d been so determined to know all of the answers, that she hadn’t thought that they should maybe look for them together or discuss it first, her desire to be a Mother, the fact that she knew her biological clock was ticking faster and faster with each passing day had pushed her towards her actions. Her brain had never once given her the thought that the older woman didn’t want children, that the idea was so horrible to her, she didn’t know of any reason for her to feel so strongly against the proposal of expanding their family from being just the two of them, but there were several things she realized after that day that she hadn’t the slightest inkling to when it came to the lighter woman. 

Regina sighs and her hands come down to cover those around her waist, “I’m sorry I got so caught up in work,” her voice is a soft barely there whisper, she reaches forward to press the silver to call the elevator, she didn’t want to say anything else until they were in the safety of their own walls, she didn’t want a scene if one was brewing, she would be honest, to an extent, as far as she had been with her Mother. She wasn’t lying though, simply keeping information but it was for the best, or at least that’s what she told herself and after telling oneself anything for long enough you could start to believe it or drown out that voice of reason behind it saying that you were only lying to yourself. The elevator arrives and she steps forward, her wife’s arms slipping from her waist then to take one of her hands in her own as they step inside. It’s a quick ride and they’re making their way into the flat, “I went out for a drink after the long night with the guys, I left my phone at the office to charge it,” she slips her hand from the pale one that had been holding it, “I got back and just immediately went to lay down on the couch, I didn’t even think to check my phone and I didn’t plan on more than a bit of a power nap and to sleep off the one drink.. but it didn’t work out as planned,” she drops her gaze from ocean blue ones that seem to be peering further inside of her than she feels comfortable with at this moment. She knows that she’s analyzing everything, her motions, her eyes, her voice, waiting for it to do it’s signature tell if she were being deceitful, but the brunette has had time to master the art, of lying that is, as horrible as that sounds, because she’d grown up with a Mother who was manipulative, harsh, cruel in her punishments if her daughter stepped out of line in even the slightest way. 

Cora didn’t tolerate much, and her Father, she loved him dearly, rest his soul; but he could never and never even tried to stand up to her, didn’t try to stop what he could clearly see was going on, ignored the bruises on her arms if Mother’s temper had gotten the better of her and she’d grabbed her a bit too hard (it didn’t help either that the brown eyed beauty bruised quite easily). Sneaking out had been a dream she’d imagined, tried, and failed at just once before realizing it was not going to work out in her favor ever. The day she had come out to her Mother had to have been by far one of the worst days of her life in retrospect. 

 

\- - - - 

[Fourteen Years Ago]

Regina was heading back home, she’d just finished up her second year of her masters in business and law, she was doing just as her Mother wished her to and becoming a lawyer, she was good in all of the need to know subjects and her memorization skills, her ability to hold so much information in her head at once was a perk that came in quite handy. Another bonus was the fact that all these things did interest her, no it wasn’t her dream career but what she actually wanted to do her Mother would never allow and she knew it, as much as she craved it, needed it, she’d learned long ago that Cora would have her way, find a way to get it if she was being denied. She had laws memorized, rules and regulations, and so much more, she’d been rooming on campus and now it was summer holiday which meant back to the estate. This holiday was going to be different though because next to her in her black Benz was her girlfriend of a few months, Danielle; they’d met in her first class of the mornings, then come to find out that they had the business portion of their majors in common so more than one class was held in common their second semester. The taller brunette also held Regina’s true interest in heart, she was an equestrian who wished to open up a school for new riders and teach lessons herself as she no longer rode for sport but simply enjoyments sake, it was Regina’s dream to do the same, or well she’d need someone else to run it alongside her though, and being with Danielle it had given her the idea that perhaps she could go and work with her, they could be partners. 

Regina wasn’t out to her parents, and this was how she and her girlfriend had decided upon as to how to tell them, the lighter brunette gave the younger one a strength she knew she would need to deal with the repercussions of telling Cora such things, she had never been a fan of anything not ‘traditional’. As the car comes to a halt she sees her parents standing by the front doors, they make their way down the three steps to greet her, and her ‘friend’ she had said she’d be bringing along for their first dinner together at the estate since she’d been away the past year. 

“Regina, how we have missed you,” the theatrics, the brunette knows they are more for her girlfriend than for her, give Cora an audience and she would perform, she had learned this in her teen years, realized that then her Mother would appear as the ever loving, ever supportive. She falls into the embrace even though she sees through the lie, because all she’d ever wanted growing up, and even now, was love, contact, feeling like she’d pleased the woman who’d raised her. She somehow still felt like a child each and every time she was in the older’s presence, it was the way the businesswoman carried herself for one, as well as the instilled respect and bit of fear that had been drilled into her from a young and impressionable age. 

“I have missed you Mother,” she offers a small upturn of her lips, it doesn’t meet her eyes, “Father,” she curls into his arms resting her head on his shoulder as he holds her close, despite his lack of spine he truly loved his little girl.

“How was the drive?” he asks pulling back but not yet releasing her from his arms entirely, her smile reaches her eyes now, it always did when it came to him. 

“Not bad, besides the usual traffic,” she hums and steps back now to stand next to her girlfriend, “This is Danielle,” she nods to her lover to step forward and she extends a hand to Henry and then Cora, the shorter man takes it with a smile whereas his wife frowns down at the offending limb as if it’s dirty her self control of keeping her reactions light and pleasant slipping as there’s something in the way the other brunette looks at her daughter that has her unsettled.

“Pleasure,” she simply says with a false smile. “Come along, let’s get inside and then we can sit down for dinner,” she turns on her heel and as she begins to make her way Henry follows quickly after. Regina let’s out a small sigh, she didn’t know how this was going to go but she didn’t see it ending in the best of ways and it sets her nerves on edge. 

They all move around the table to take their seats, wine is served along with glasses of water, the bottle is left to her Father’s right, he sits beside her, Danielle across from her while Cora takes the head of the table. Everyone sips at their drinks whilst taking the offered appetizer of cheese and crackers, some fruits as well, before her Mother clears her throat and stands, “Regina would you join me in the kitchen?” she swallows thickly quickly taking a gulp of her wine before she stands, Cora is already making her way out of the dining room, she knew it hadn’t truly been a question, only posed that way for Danielle’s sake, it had been an order.

As she steps into the kitchen she sees her Mother standing in front of the sink, eyes peering through the glass of the window in front of her, her body seems slightly rigid, she’s not happy, she’s deep in thought already, but the younger brunette knew better than to just assume that meant the proud woman with her back to her had not noticed her entrance. As if reading her mind, as if trying to prove a point the older woman spins around and the anger behind matching mocha orbs is evident, her voice comes out in a harsh whisper, one that she knows will not radiate throughout the room which means their guest will not hear a word she utters. 

“And pray tell what the hell you think you are doing trying to lie to me Regina? After all these years did you think I wouldn’t take notice of your small tells? Did you really believe you would or could get away with such things?” In that moment the younger does not feel her age, does not feel she is on equal playing grounds, and in all truth when it came to her Mother she never was, never would be, and she hated it. She couldn’t even stand up to her, years of being trained, without her own knowing until she was older and it was too late to try and break the habits, too late to rebel and not have it cost her; her mind told her not to fight back, to simply take the words, take the punishment.

“Mother I-,”was going to tell you, she wants to say, tries to say but the words don’t even make it from her brain to her vocal chords before the darker is stepping directly in front of her, close, and Regina cannot help her body’s reaction, cannot help the way that she flinches and shrinks back into herself as Cora simply holds up a single finger to cease all speaking she planned or plans to do.

“I do not want to hear your half wit excuses Regina, I want to know why you would lie to me? What is it that you are so afraid of?” and oh is it a loaded question because it’s the most fucked of situations, because her Mother had made sure to instill fear in her, had made sure she knew consequences were given in harshness due to the severity (on the Cora scale as she’d coined it in her mind) of the action. When you did something wrong in her Mother’s eyes it wasn’t simply about what you had done, it was about so much more, the why, the reason behind trying to cover truth or do whatever it was you were attempting, why that course of action, what would it help you to achieve in the long run, was it simply a one time ordeal or were you going to attempt it once more, expand upon the idea?

She doesn’t have time to think of a well constructed response as she normally would attempt too, though she supposed that was part of Cora’s method to getting the truth, overwhelming her with questions and things to think about and if she had been quicker in the moment as she was at times she’d have not been bothered, have been able to come up with some sort of cover for herself but that was no where near the case today as her words fall from deep red lips of their own accord, “She’s my girlfriend,” she blurts out and then her hand comes up in an attempt to cover her mouth but the older woman is quicker in her responses and rather than her hand covering her lips she feels the sting as an after effect of her Mother having slapped her cheek. 

“She is no such thing unless you mean in the traditional sense Regina,” she spits out, the hand meant for her mouth now comes to her cheek, she’s in a semi state of shock, she truly hadn’t expected it to be a physical response, she’d grown accustomed to the verbal scoldings over the phone whilst she was away she now notices because this wasn’t the first time this had occurred, yet she was in a silent state of shock. 

She forces herself to find her voice, she doesn’t sound as tough as she wishes she would she’s sure, the fact that she’s clutching her own cheek whilst she speaks doesn’t make her any more intimidating either, but she stands up to Cora pushing back in her words, “She is my girlfriend Mother,” there’s a hint of growl to her tone and her Mother smirks letting out a bark of dry laughter as her daughter tries to plead her case, tries to stand firm, oh she had grown a pair it would seem or she was attempting to and the older brunette knew this had to do with this Danielle, “As in we sleep together,” she spits out her eyes flashing with anger, she knows deep down she’s going to regret this outburst but it doesn’t come to the forefront of her mind now, in this moment she doesn’t care, she wants to get her point across. 

There’s a hand on her wrist yanking the hand from her injured cheek, “You are not with her, you will not be after tonight and you will shake these delusions from your head. I do not know what lies she has told you, what promises she has made but I can assure you they are all lies. On top of all this, how are you going to give me grandchildren someday soon with a woman? Tell me Regina, how?” she snarls and Regina tugs her arm away from her Mother, tries to break free from the hand on her wrist but it doesn’t let up, fingertips push into her skin harder and she knows now that she will most likely bruise. 

Before she can open her mouth to try and offer a response her Father enters the kitchen clearing his throat to let his presence be known and then Cora drops her wrist, crosses her own arms around her midsection and turns to look back out the window, or rather glare out of it, she’s fuming, “Regina why don’t you go and start to eat with your friend,” he knows it’s not just a friend, knows it’s more, by the way they looked at each other, by the way that Cora had almost immediately summoned her away. She nods and makes her way back into the dining room, her girlfriend immediately jumping up to take her in her arms as she breaks down, silent tears roll down the smaller woman’s cheeks as she realizes this was stupid, a dumb idea to think that her Mother would in any way accept this, who she was, who she was with, who she wanted to love. 

 

\- - - - 

[Back To Present Day]

Mal let’s out a sigh, she sees how her wife won’t look directly at her, how she’s pulled free of her hand, how she does her defensive mechanism and wraps her arms around herself, “Regi, listen, next time, I don’t care if we’re in the midst of not agreeing on something, just call me or send me a message, let me know you’re not coming home, or that you’re okay at the very least, because not hearing from you, not knowing where you were, if you were alright.. it hurt, it scared me, so I called your Mother. I knew if she couldn’t reach you to be generally worried, and well, seeing you were asleep and missed her call as well as mine I spent the majority of the night up unable to sleep, couldn’t shut my brain off.” 

Regina feels horrible at her words, she really does, she was right, even if they were arguing she could’ve at the very least sent a message her way, but that was the thing, if she initiated contact mid fight it could always cause a larger issue and she hadn’t wanted that either, she’d just wanted to relax and sleep and not feel as if she fucked everything up in the world always. “I didn’t sleep the best either,” it was a small lie but she just wanted to move past this now and not have any further questions as to what last night had entailed. “Can we take a bath and go back to bed?” she steps forward looking up at her wife now, brown meet blue, Mal let’s out a sigh and opens her arms to the brunette, neither of them had been in the right surrounding the happenings of last night, they silently agreed that it was not worth fighting over this any longer. 

Rather than a verbal reply the blonde steps forward and reaches her arms out to wrap around the smaller woman, “Of course,” she kisses the tanned forehead as it moves down slowly to eventually become buried in her neck. “I’ll draw it, you get ready,” she pulls away and steps off to the side to move around Regina and towards the bathroom. The brunette makes her way to grab her robe and strips down and out of the clothes she’d been wearing since last night, clothes that are now wrinkled, that.. as she pulls her blouse open she suddenly notices it, a bit of the glitter she’d seen on Cinnamon’s chest last night, she quickly moves to the mirror to check herself over for any other strays, she can’t have this be seen. Luckily for her Mal was busy drawing their bath and making things perfect in their master bath, she checks her body thoroughly and manages to find the few pieces that had become attached to her skin, she’s glad she saw the one shimmering fleck before entering the room naked to join the older woman. Her stomach is in knots, she hated this, she didn’t like lying or hiding things but it had just been a lap dance encouraged by her coworkers and so what if she had said maybe next time, she didn’t have the intentions to go another time. 

Mal is already in the tub as her wife enters, “I was wondering how much longer I’d have to wait for you,” she teases a playful grin on her face, Regina smiles softly dropping her robe slowly, giving a show of letting it slip down her shoulders, letting it part on it’s own before aiding it in falling the rest of it’s way to the floor. The brunette steps into the bath and turns so that her back is facing the woman already seated, she sinks down and scoots back to press her back to the other’s front.

“I wouldn’t want to keep you waiting too long, you may have decided to start without me then,” strong arms come to encircle her waist tugging her back closer, flush against and the darker woman lets out a gasp as she feels hardened from the cooler air around them nipples along her back, she can’t help the shiver that occurs, she swears she can feel the smirk crossing those pale pink lips behind her before the softest brush of them crosses her shoulder . 

“I wouldn’t dream of starting without you ,” Regina hears the undertone, gets the double meaning loud and clear, her mind is blissfully blank of all things relating to the mysterious younger blonde from last night, she feels the hands around her begin to wander down her sides, splaying out on the tops of her thighs, pushing slightly to tell her what is wanted and though she knows they just had a fight, that this is the make up part, part one of many she was sure she complies. Her legs part and she lets her head fall back onto a shoulder, let’s her eyes flutter shut, let’s her lips part as the digits continue their journey lower as well as inward, coming to the apex, so close to where she’s suddenly burning up. 

“Mal,” her voice is low, husky, gravelly, a throaty chuckle, the chest she’s leaned against vibrates her spine, her entire frame shaking ever so slightly. She wants to get lost in the older woman and keep her mind off of the hurtful thing she’d done.

“Patience,” the older woman responds in a growl as she digs blunt nails into sensitive flesh, Regina jumps at the sudden roughness unexpected but also more than welcome, her wife knew how to perfectly mix pain with pleasure, knew how it did things to her, such as now. Her sex pulses, she feels a wetness that she knows is not solely from the warm water they are sitting in. One hand remains in place, the other comes to part already soaked folds, she uses her index and ring finger to part them, teases with flicks of her middle, slipping just the tip of her finger inside, barely up to the first knuckle.

“Mal,” it’s the only word she can manage right now, the only thing she knows as her mind is void of all else, as her body reacts like a fine tuned instrument played by one of expert knowledge, one who’s had the years of practice and can play without even thinking about it. It was the perfect metaphor, because it was truth, Mal had known Regina for years, learned her as well as her body, she could draw any desired reaction from the woman practically squirming in her lap whenever she wished as she knew just what to do, what to say, how to say it, how to do it. 

She fights to keep her hips from bucking, from grinding down, trying to get more of that finger inside of her, trying to find more pressure, the idea of being teased much longer was not one the brunette was fond of, the blonde appears to hold the opposite opinion. Mal continues her shallow penetration while still rubbing lower lips that blood is rushing to, she waits for that first needy sound to come from her wife’s throat, she wanted to make the woman in her arms explode and just feel so good. The single finger begins to slowly sink inside, the pace is that of a sloth Regina swears as it takes forever for her to be filled to the hilt, then that sound the lighter woman had been waiting for pours forth from luscious reds. 

“That’s it Regina,” she husks deeply into the brunette’s ear, encouraging her to be vocal, not to stifle her sounds, “It’s just us, let me hear you,” there was something in the sounds that came from the younger woman, the way they sounded rich, smooth even when raspy, an occasional whimper did occur, those were not very common but oh when she got her to whimper she swore she would one day come on the spot. Regina sometimes would try not to make a sound, past lessons had been learned when she had let herself be vocal in her youth and her Mother had caught her a fair few times with a woman.. majority of the time if had been Danielle, that was until she had ran off never to contact the brunette ever again. Her Mother had never approved of her choosing the fairer sex, not until Mal had come into the picture, perhaps their getting along aided in the approval, if her daughter were to end up with a woman as long as they got along it was good? 

Mocha orbs flutter shut as her head falls back onto the shoulder behind, her lips part, tongue darting out to moisten them, and the finger inside of her begins to move in and out at a still face too slow pace, on each inward push the digit curls upwards to tease that ribbed patch of flesh, not applying any real pressure. “M-mal,” she moans the other’s name, her breath hitching in her throat as she feels a second finger rubbing along her slit, gathering wetness, she was ready for it, for more, but the finger does not move any closer to being buried deep within her core. Kisses are peppered along an olive throat that is exposed even more with the further teasing that Regina had sworn to herself she didn’t want, but now she didn’t want it to stop as she felt that tingling, the beginning of the build up. Her clit is begging for attention as the ministrations continue, as the gasps and moans continue to fall forth, the light press of lips doesn’t remain innocent for long as now teeth are felt, coming into play. The first nip causes a groan, the second is harder, a moan, for the third she latches onto her wife’s pulse point sucking and biting, marking, it was something they didn’t often do to each other because of the formal environment they worked in, Mal would work from home more often than Regina so therefore she was marked more frequent than the brunette, and oh did the younger miss it. The feeling of those pearly whites, of that pink tongue, those plump lips, all the while fingers still move, just as she’s about to give one final suck to the patch of skin she thrusts the second finger along with the first on the next in stroke. 

A guttural moan leaves Regina’s lips this time as her wife slams the now two digits inside of her, as she yanks them back out to the tips the brunette now knows the slow teasing is over, now it was time for that fast pace, the unforgiving fingers that would aim to make her explode as quickly as possible and then draw it out for as long as possible. And that’s exactly what she does. Mal slams her fingers back inside the younger woman and curls them in one fluid motion, pressing hard now against that spot deep inside and Regina’s core clenches and spasms around those pleasure giving fingers, the mouth returns to her neck, begins to work on another mark, this one she can feel will be darker. Her hips jerk forward with each thrust, she keeps up with the quickness of the pumping motion, and then she feels the blonde’s other hand move and she knows exactly what is about to happen before it does but it doesn’t prepare her anymore for it. Thumb and forefinger come to circle her hidden pearl right before they pinch and roll it and that does her in. 

The brunettes back snaps into a beautiful arch as her thighs shake, her legs feel like jelly as she hits her peak hard, and the fingers don’t stop, she reaches that momentary high but it doesn’t stop as Mal milks more out of her. She let’s out a scream of her name, and feels the coiling in her belly begin to lessen, feel as if it’s flowing out of her and in a way it is, her clit throbs still even as fingers leave it, the two inside her suddenly becomes three just before the pace slows which sets her off into another orgasm before the first has even fully subsided.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long guys, I've been busy on those days off and all, I will try to get ahead in writing and editing to avoid delays again, thank you to all who have left comments and kudos I appreciate and hope you all continue to stick around. 
> 
> Please read all warnings and summaries listed for the fic as I tried to cover it all. 
> 
> ENJOY

Across town ‘Cinnamon’ is just getting in this morning from a night that had turned into a private party and the blonde couldn’t say no to the money, she was due for a day or two off soon anyway so she’d have plenty of time with Henry and then she would go back to a more regular schedule, she simply had wanted to earn some extra cash this week because next week was a normal check up for her son, to see how he was doing and feeling. It was just routine but it was still costly, add on that it wasn’t as if strip clubs offered health insurance so she was on the same network as Ruby now, the brunette had helped her with that right away it was good and covered a lot of cost, but it was still costly and tests that often had to be run and rerun after certain periods of time did not always end up as full coverage. 

“Emma that you ?” it was Ruby opening the bathroom door half her makeup done, “Late night huh?” she gets a sigh in response, she understands all too well the nights that are not supposed to run long but do. “The kids up and ready for school today, I guess he’s feeling better, either that or ya need to do the Mom check to make sure he’s not just acting as such,” the brunette then stops talking as she takes in a look on the blonde’s face. “Okay spill, who the hell got you giddy like a school girl?”

The Mother blushes deeply, “Wha- I don’t know what you me- omff,” a small child comes barreling into her legs at that point, “We’ll talk later Rubes, for now I have to get this munchkin to school and then we can talk, and where the hell are you going dolled up?”

Ruby chuckles, “Mhmm private dance guy from the other night, name’s Graham and thats all you’re gettin’ for now,” she makes her way around the Mother and son duo.

“Oh that is not fair, asking me but then not telling,” she huffs and bends down to scoop her son up into her arms attacking him with kisses, as her friend disappears around the corner she calls out, “And I hope that wasn’t my makeup again you were using!” a laugh is her confirmation that it indeed was, “Rubes! Come on I can’t get new until tomorrow what do I do for tonight?!” she hated sharing makeup it wasn’t clean in her book, many of the girls did it but she hated it. Refused to do it. 

“I’ll have Graham buy me some more before I come back, I’ve got to swing back for a nap we’re both on tonight! And you didn’t answer me first so I have the rights to deny you!” she calls out so that her friend can hear her. 

An hour later Henry is being walked to the front doors of the school, Emma had made sure he was feeling alright. 

She makes it back to her apartment shortly after grabbing some breakfast for herself at the corner shop on the way home from the walk to the school and eats it on the way home before finally collapsing into bed. 

It’s not until two o’ clock that she wakes to her alarm blaring that signals it’s time to get up and go get Henry, she’ll do her usual of dropping him with Granny then who will make sure she sends Ruby over in an hour to check she’s still awake or wakes her in time for their family dinner before she and her friend head off to work. They weren’t due in until five which meant they’d most likely be pulling a late night as often was the case when they didn’t start until then, if they started by three there was a chance that they’d be let go at close, but to be the last or second to last round of coverage meant those who had arrived prior got the first pick of if they wanted to leave at close or not (unless of course they were booked for later or doing extras). 

 

Regina is finishing up the last bit of paperwork that she has for the night when she decides to call her wife who answers after the first ring. 

“Reg? You alright?” the brunette keeps herself from sighing, she jumped straight to that, it was sad and all too telling of how often they did or did not call any longer. 

“Yes Mal I’m fine, I simply wished to let you know that I won’t be straight home, the guys have asked if I would like to join them for a few drinks to celebrate Max’s new place, I don’t plan to drink much but if I do I’ll be calling you for a ride if that’s alright?” because she knows that presenting things a certain way was key to having Mal be more understanding than attacking or defensive about sore subjects and Regina drinking heavily was a sore one for sure. 

“That sounds fine, I’ll call you in two hours to see how you’re fairing,” that was the blonde’s way of saying she’d check to see if the brunette was going to keep true to her word and not drink too much. 

“I love you,” she adds it because she feels they’ve just been fighting so much lately and she feels it’s always somehow her fault, she wants them to be happy again. 

“I love you too,” and then the dial tone, Regina feels like she’s already in trouble, as if she’d just started another fight. They’d just recovered but this would now be night two of her going out, one in which she spent away, this time at least she was going to call, but did Mal see this as part two of that? No. She wouldn’t get too drunk, she’d just relax, she would have Mal pick her up either way, even if she didn’t touch a drop. Then in the morning they could go for breakfast and the blonde could drop her at work. It was a perfect plan. 

Only… 

An hour later and they’re on their way to the bar, or so Regina thought they were when she suddenly looks up and sees the name of the place they’ve reached. Her stomach flips. It was the strip club again. Was Cinnamon working tonight? She shakes her head, why was she thinking such things? It made no difference to her, she shouldn’t be here, “Really? Again?” she scoffs. 

Max chuckles, “Don’t wanna come in Mills?” he quirks a brow and looks to the other two, “Wonder if Cinnamon’s working tonight boys?” he asks before making eye contact with her once more. 

She feels her cheeks heating up as a tinge of pink covers them as she let’s out a sigh and spins back towards the doors pulling one open and marching inside, her coworkers laughing behind her. It didn’t matter, it didn’t make a difference if the young blonde worked tonight or not.. then her eyes land on her. She’d been scanning the stage since her entrance, not even realizing she was looking for the woman, until she saw her, and just at that moment emerald orbs surrounded by deep red, lined with black peer up catching mocha. Regina gasps, Cinnamon grins before winking at her and then she’s walking up to the stage, her legs carrying her there without her even realizing it, the blonde comes to the edge pearly whites showing as she smiles that perfect smile. 

“Fancy a dance Mills?” her voice is a bit rough, husky, was it intentional? She doesn’t recall if it had been such the last time she was here. 

Regina keeps herself composed, “Perhaps, but I want a preview first,” she moves to grabs a seat right by the stage, and internally she’s freaking out, was she flirting? Jesus! She was flirting with a stripper named Cinnamon! She was a happily married woman.. or well married woman at least, the ups and downs were draining at times, she hated to admit it, with all that Mal had put up with from her she was sure it was much more than she’d had to deal with. She sighs, what was she doing? Why hadn’t she just left? Why didn’t she just call Mal? No Mal would call in an hour anyways so she would tell her to give her one more hour and come get her. 

The only problem was her phone was still on the charger in her office. She’d never get the call. She wouldn’t make the call unless she used one of her coworkers phones. She had really been sure that they meant an actual bar and she would be able to stick to her two hours head back and grab the device, have time. But now. She swallows thickly oh this was going to be a disaster and she needed to somehow find a way to stop it all before it went too far and suddenly Mal found her. 

On stage the young blonde sways, her hips move in time with the music, her body flows as she dances around the pole in front of her, wraps herself around it. She drops down into a split and all thoughts of Mal leave the brunette’s brain, her eyes are glued on the stripper who looks right at her as she keeps her legs split and pulls herself back up the pole. Regina swallows hard, legs find their way back around metal and suddenly images of other things those strong thighs could be wrapped around come flooding into her mind. She’s hypnotized by the metronomic movements of hips left exposed as the lower attire for today was a blood red g-string, her tiny top was matching, it all of course matched the eye shadow. 

Ruby had come back with not just makeup but outfits to match the pallets, some in her size, some in the blonde’s, and that was what she’d decided upon for tonight’s look, one of the outfits her friend had brought over. 

To have those mocha orbs on her the entire time she dances and moves about is addicting, she wants more of it, she doesn’t know what this is, she’s never like this even with repeat customers. But the song comes to an end and a pause is taken so the girls can drink something or go do a dance, some others come on, and one blonde in particular hops down and makes her way towards a certain brunette. 

“So? Fancy that dance? We can take one of the rooms,” the young woman smiles and worries her lower lip between her teeth, Regina doesn’t see how she can say no, so she doesn’t, she simply puts her hand out, offering it so that she may be guided.

“Drinks?” she manages to ask and Cinnamon chuckles nodding, only they don’t go towards the bar and it confuses her. As they enter the room she sees why that was the lighter woman’s response to her question, in the right back corner of the room is a small booth section, made for one, atop the table in front of it are two glasses and a bottle of tequila, next to them a bowl of limes and another of salt. Two water bottles are there as well. All in all it’s a tight fit for the small surface area but it is put together neatly and Regina has to admit this entire establishment is not what she had expected. 

“Make some drinks, it’s up to you if I get to drink any,” she smirks and the brunette feels like there’s another meaning or message there that she’s meant to grasp but she doesn’t comprehend it right now. Instead she moves to make some drinks holding one glass out to the blonde, “Thank you,” she murmurs and as she goes to drink it she makes sure to miss her mouth just enough about halfway through downing the alcohol so that a few drops roll down her chin, along her neck, down to the valley between breasts and what’s worse? Dark eyes are glued to the liquid following it’s path, when it stops she licks her lips without her knowledge, she brings her glass up to her own mouth and takes it in one motion, chugging it down in no time flat, sucking the lime into her mouth. 

Cinnamon steps forward now and moves to take the lime from the older woman’s mouth, she then places it onto the table. She’s grabbing the bottle then to give them each a shot and clinks their glasses together before throwing hers back, the lawyer follows suit. 

“Now I hate to be a party pooper but.. I don’t do this for free so what is it you want here so I can give you a price or tell you what to tell them on your way out so they ring you up right?” Regina’s mouth opens and closes again, what does she want? She shouldn’t want any of this, shouldn’t want anything, no she was a married woman, but yet.. this was just a dance.. it wasn’t sex. 

“A dance.” She simply states, she’s honestly unsure if she would be able to manage anymore than that in the form of speech right now as she peers up to see the younger woman grinning a cat like grin, one that looks almost as if she is stalking her like prey, and when did it get so hot in here? The lawyer moves to slip off her blazer and clears her throat waiting for the price on that as well as hoping that she was picking something specific enough. It wasn’t as if she’d done this before and exactly knew what was on the menu?

Cinnamon chuckles and nods her head to the corner to her back left of the room in which there is a chair that has no small table or any hindrances in front of or around it, the darker woman swallows thickly as she realizes what is being implied now, she grabs for the bottle and downs a bit of the liquid courage before pouring two more shots and carrying them over with her as she makes her way up and towards the emerald eyed dancer. She takes the glass with ease, in one fluid motion it’s received and brought to her lips, turned and downed while her empty hand extends as an offer to guide her client to where she will hopefully earn her keep in tips. As soon as her ass makes contact with the cushion of the straight backed chair Regina downs her shot and her head is beginning to go warm, her face, her body, she’s definitely going to feel this rapidly consumed alcohol soon enough with this equally as intoxicating woman around who is pushing down on her shoulders now as naked thighs spread to straddle clothed ones . The lighter leans in, her lips so close to the older woman’s ear, “There’s just one rule.” her voice is a breathless whisper, a deep husk, it sounds of pure sex and seduction, it somehow seems to be luring her in and she’s not even trying to stop it or her, she almost welcomes it, silently asking for more. She doesn’t register herself humming but the woman atop her does as she leans back and grinds her hips down and forward, “No touching Mills,” she winks.

And at first Regina thinks that the other is far too cocky to believe that she does not think she has the self restraint to keep her hands to herself.. then Cinnamon begins to move.. she’s thrown back to what she had seen on stage.. and now.. atop her. 

She. Was. Fucked. 

The brunette’s initial reaction is the twitching of her hands that grip the sides of the chair she sits atop, Cinnamon faces her giving a knowing smirk, “Think I’ll make it easy on you?” her hips grind forward and down and her breasts are practically in the brunette’s face and as those hips roll Regina doesn’t even notice that she’s moving, that it has happened until the blonde’s hands come down to cover her own and she clicks her tongue. “Now now Mills, I said,” she lean down and in to whisper directly into her ear as her fingers intertwine with the lawyers and she removes those hands that she hadn’t exactly minded from her hips, pushing them up and back against the wall behind, “No touching.” She grins, and the lawyer’s breath catches in her throat, as she sits back Cinnamon takes notice of the way that mocha orbs are nearly black telling her she’s doing a good job, “You sure you only want a dance?”

Regina is taken aback by the question and she lowers her arms back to the chair when she realizes her wrists have been released, did she only want a dance? No. But also yes, because she shouldn’t, shouldn’t want more, shouldn’t be doing this, she should say yes, she should get up and pay and go back to grab her phone and go back to Mal, but another part of her wonders what happens if she says no. 

The blonde has ceased the rolling of her hips and simply sits straddling the brunette’s legs, her own chest is rising and falling rapidly in anticipation, had she been misreading the signs? She could swear this woman wanted more and she has to remind herself its a job and not to walk that line, “No,” the single word suddenly cuts through the silence and emerald orbs widen in slight shock that the uptight woman had actually uttered the word rather than a simple head shake or pushing her off. 

“It will cost you,” she purrs into her ear and then nips at it for good measure, if she was going to pay more, the younger woman could use the money besides the fact that she wanted to touch her and be touched perhaps, but still it was early in the night, privates with extras were always later, but she has a feeling the brunette doesn’t have until later. Add in the fact that Cinnamon was not one to do extras.. it was not the usual for either of the women right now, it was new territory. 

Regina’s response is to slip a hand through golden curls and tug those pale pinks towards he ruby red. It’s not anything near what she should be doing and she tries to somewhere deep down excuse herself with it being the alcohol as their mouths meet. As she melts into the passionate meeting she feels the blonde begin grinding atop her once more and her hands tug on the silky locks woven between them, yanking her head back to gain access to a pale throat. The brunette’s tongue darts out to taste the salty sweetness of the younger’s skin and she earns a deep throaty moan in response to her actions. 

And oh gods. The way she moans. Doesn’t cease in the rolling of her hips. Her hands grip Regina’s shoulders like a lifeline. It’s intoxicating. 

Pearly whites graze along the same trail her tongue had now and she gets another rumble from the blonde’s throat. 

And then.. the stripper is reaching between them and her fingers fumble with the button and zip of the all too fancy dress pants and that’s what snaps her out of the haze, what brings her down from the high and mocha orbs widen, hands quickly fly to cover the other woman’s and Cinnamon stops all movement. Emerald orbs blink and Regina watches her throat move as she swallows thickly. Without as much as a word she jumps up and turns to go and grab the forgotten bottle and glasses filling them to the brim and holding one out to the lawyer who gladly takes it and downs it in one go like the younger. 

“You can pay up front, tell them it was just a dance,” just a dance, just a dance, that was all Regina kept repeating to herself in her head as she rushes out of the room, she makes it to the front and pays and she doesn’t even look for nor wait for her coworkers. 

She’s back in her office before she knows it and grabbing a decanter of cider from the cabinet and pouring herself a healthy glass. 

She jumps as her phone suddenly blares loudly, shit. She had forgotten entirely, how long had she been gone? 

Her finger swipes to answer the call, “I was just about to call you dear,” she tries to sound normal, casual, happy, not scared out of her mind as she is, if Mal were to find out, she couldn’t, and Regina tells herself that she needs to never go back to that club again as she cannot and will not let the young blonde seduce her. It was all Cinnamon’s fault, she had done this, but yet it wasn’t, she had tugged her closer, had initiated it hadn’t she?

A chuckle on the other end of the line, “Well then I am glad that I have the perfect timing that I seem to, would you like me to come and pick you up my sweet? Send me the address and I’ll leave out now.”

Regina holds back a sigh, she needed a quick, easy, and believable lie, “I’m actually back at the office, the guys walked me back to make sure I was alright as I forgot a few papers I had wanted to take home and then headed down to another bar.. apparently the celebration isn’t over yet but yes I do need that ride.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes I love you,” and those three words, since when had they hurt? Since when had they made her feel like a blade had been pushed into her chest, and she doesn’t know why she suddenly feels as if she has to say them back not just a want. Earlier in the evening she’d said them to her wife because she felt it had been all too long and she wanted to say the words, perhaps try and work back to something good, get back to calling and saying it and meaning it, but now, now it hurt and stung and the thoughts of what she had just done, her stomach is clenching. 

“ I love you too,” and the call ends and the lawyer drops down to the couch and she decides to finish off the glass of amber liquid while Mal makes the drive. She couldn’t go back there, she couldn’t see Cinnamon again, it was just a job to her wasn’t it? That kiss hadn’t felt like a job. Then again she supposes that could simply mean the blonde was really that good at her job, either way she was off limits. Regina should not have been getting a dance from the girl let alone a kiss, gods what was wrong with her? She doesn’t even realize she’s finished her cider until the door suddenly opens and she jumps, the thankfully empty glass falls to the couch and she rushes to pick it up and place it down on the side table. 

“Didn’t mean to scare you, figured I’d come up and make sure you were alright and not just trying to appear as such,” the older woman points to the glass, “Why don’t you just put that away and I’ve got a nice bottle at home we can share, maybe a movie can be found on TV for the night as well? Have you eaten?”

The brunette’s head bobs up and down as she shows her agreement in a silent way, the glass is placed back where it goes after she wipes it down with a wipe then a rag, she would wash it properly in the sink in the break room tomorrow but for now she just didn’t need it attracting any bugs. 

And off they go and they’re home in record timing, they didn’t live far from the office in the first place but they also had somehow managed to get every green light tonight and the younger was more than grateful for that, she just wanted to be far away from work and the club and be home with her wife to keep her on track and.. 

Her phone rings. 

Her stomach twists in a knot, it was her Mother, that was never a good thing. 

She swipes to answer and brings the phone to her ear, “Mother?”

“We have a few things to discuss sweetheart, do try not to cause a production if you are around your wife, excuse yourself as soon as you can and call me back if you are with her now,” Mal had quirked a brow at the answering of the phone, she knew who had called, she didn’t know why though, or in a way she did but she wasn’t aware it was the reason behind Cora’s call.

“Yes of course, once we get home and more settled I can call you Mother, I was out for work,” there is no response, “Goodbye,” she says softly and hangs up realizing that it may have something to do with the going out then. Why did her Mother still treat her as if she were some young teenager even now? Could she not go out after work every now and then? 

She would soon find out once they got upstairs..


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay guys I'll be getting some more editing and writing done in advance this time 
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting, hope you continue to enjoy !

“What is that supposed to mean?!” she doesn’t mean for her voice to go up in volume the way that it does, it just happens. 

“What it means dear is that you are going out far too much, what is your wife supposed to think after awhile? Are you seeing someone Regina? Mal called the other morning to say you’d not come home again, you are spending equal nights there and home during the last months time.”

How did her Mother always know so much? How did she calculate that? She supposes it wasn’t too hard for her though. 

Regina worked in one of the offices her Mother owned and ran after all, while Mal worked in another. 

Cora Mills had multiple firms she owned, she had worked long and hard to get to where she was. Regina was an only child, she was the one to be trained properly, lined up to take over whenever Cora felt it was time to step down or she passed, whichever occurred first either way held the same result. Only, Regina hadn’t exactly turned out to be all that her Mother wanted her to be. For starters, she was a lesbian, she had tried to be into boys when she was younger as she just wanted to please her Mother but she couldn’t find a single one she liked in any way more than a friend. Girls though, women, had been catching her eye for the longest. There was also Regina’s mouth, the sass and sarcasm, the quick to snap, a short temper and fuse, she had of course gotten better as she grew older but she still had her moments and she sometimes wondered if she really had outgrown it all or if her Mother’s hand and harsh tongue had been the motivation to try and tone down or at least catch herself. Sometimes she reminded her Mother too much of her younger self but that wouldn’t do to become the one in charge, Cora had learned how to act and react and so would Regina. 

Cora had always been very observant about all things that pertained to her daughter, she paid attention, watched, learned, and was able to put things together, she knew to tell a lie coming from Regina’s lips and all. The older woman had always known exactly what her daughter was doing or planning to do, she had after all made the younger what she was to an extent. If only Regina knew just how much of her life her Mother had dictated, how much she had been a hand in the happenings, the brunette would surely lose it and snap, lash out, and then she would face the consequences. That was a lesson Cora had instilled in Regina young, everything you do has a consequence, an outcome, and if you’re not cautious or making sure that you will be the one to come out on top in any situation you are doomed from the start. 

“I have been staying at work, you know I bought a newer and more comfortable couch Mother,” she doesn’t even know how to respond to this all. Was she seeing someone? Well no, she wasn’t, there wasn’t someone else.. only there kind of was. Cinnamon. They had kissed and the brunette realizes now as she thinks about it that they would’ve done more and gone further had her conscience not suddenly kicked in at just the right moment. She sighs, she was not happy in this marriage anymore, that was the truth of it all, but she couldn’t leave Mal could she? Her Mother alone would make her life hell, but she couldn’t cheat on her, couldn’t have this hidden away secret, secrets and lies had already gotten her into enough trouble. 

Yet here she was again. 

“That does not answer my question Regina. Are you seeing someone?” There’s an underlying threat to her tone and the younger brunette feels a shiver run down her spine, feels her heart racing, she feels like a child about to be caught with crumbs all on their face from the cookies they swore they hadn’t eaten. 

“No Mother.” She wasn’t, she can leave it at that can’t she?

There is a pause after her response, the brunette forgets how to breath for the time in which it is completely silent, she almost wonders if Cora is still on the line for a moment until the silence is finally broken, “Very well my dear, send my love to Mal, tell her I shall be arriving in two days time,” and before she can even open her mouth to respond, the dial tone is what she receives. 

Well this was just great, Mal had suspicions it would seem if she had spoken to her Mother about it, either that or she hadn’t had any but now she surely did or would, because that was the thing about the older woman, she could get in your head and even if you knew she was doing it or that she was about to do it you couldn’t prevent it. Cora was manipulation at it’s best and Regina had always and still does hate that the woman who raised her could make her so paranoid. 

She can’t go back, she can’t go and see that girl again, because that’s what she was in comparison wasn’t she? If she perhaps convinced herself that Cinnamon was too young for her, that she didn’t have her life together nor her priorities straight because of her profession then maybe it would be easier to get her out and keep her out of her head. She doesn’t even know her real name or a thing about her either way so she could easily write her out of her life. She wants to kick herself as to why she even has to come up with a reason not to see the blonde again, she shouldn’t need any reason, she just shouldn’t go back there period. She was married. She didn’t like this woman for anything besides the way she danced and that was so shallow. Cinnamon would never be anything more than a stripper and was she really going to ruin her marriage, her job, her life over that? No. She wouldn’t. 

Only it wasn’t going to work like that, she would try to stay away, but little did she know she would fail. 

Regina makes her way out of the room to go and find Mal only she doesn’t find her anywhere inside. This was odd, but then she hears her voice, she follows it to peek around the corner and see she’s on the balcony phone to her ear. 

It could only be one other person on the end of that line. 

Her Mother. 

Sure enough it was. 

“Cora?” she seemed almost puzzled by the call herself, so perhaps this was all some idea her Mother had come up with, it was possible that Mal had simply mentioned that she had been staying out more and the result was Cora’s mind jumping around to conclusions. Another mind game she’d fallen into and now Mal would be taken down just the same, only her Mother hadn’t been entirely off. Regina was doing something she had no business doing, she had stepped out of her marriage. This would hurt Mal when she found out, if she.. no when.. the brunette tries to tell herself she cannot think of hiding this as a possibility, she needs to go back and tell the stripper that she cannot see her any longer, there would be no, ‘until next time Mills’ this time, she would make it clear. 

Would that be the best way to go? Perhaps she should just stay away for awhile, or forever, and be the ever faithful wife coming home, making dinner, sitting down with Mal, they could work things out, talk about things couldn’t they? Maybe they could get to the bottom of why the blonde seemed so sworn off of the idea of children, their own or adopted. 

Regina makes her way back to their room, she would give the older woman the privacy of the conversation that she knew she most likely did not wish to hear anyways. A sigh as she decides that maybe a bath, some time to relax and ease her mind, get lost in her thoughts so that she could work out what the hell she was even going to do, and why was this such a confusing and intense decision in the first place? She’s tired of the fighting, the hot tempers flaring at the worst of times and always seemingly in unison. She hated that she still did the same as she did when younger of then proceeding to run away and try to numb herself, try not to feel, it wasn’t healthy and she knew that deep down. 

But how did you just end it all, did Mal feel the same? It was a discussion that they should most definitely have, how to start it though? Or how to have it without it blowing up and into a fight?

She doesn’t have time enough to think this thoroughly through, her Mother is due in two days time and she’s sure that will not allow them to speak in the privacy they will need for this, Cora did not need to insert herself either because this was already going to be bad if Cora thought that there was a chance of her daughter leaving the older woman, she had been the first partner Regina chose that the older brunette approved of and got along with. 

The lawyer is deep in her thoughts already as she draws the bath, some salts are dropped in and she moves to strip down and out of her clothes to fold them neatly on the bed before making her way back into the bathroom and shutting the faucet off. 

The warm water, the soothing salts, she slips in eyes falling shut as her head comes to rest on the back of the tub, she’s filled it to the point that once the water has displaced due to her being in it the warmth is up to her neck. She doesn’t hear the sounds of her wife making her way up the stairs after her phone call has ended, she is just relaxed, calm, her mind quiet so she can just try and let the answers come to her about all of this, thinking too much would hurt just as much as not thinking at all. 

“How was your phone call with your Mother?” Regina jolts, the gravelly voice of her wife having not been expected in the slightest. How long had she been in the water? She didn’t think it had been that long and if that was the case then how was the blonde already off of the phone with Cora? Her Mother alway kept her on longer than a few minutes, unless of course it was to simply place a whisper in your ear and let it fester and grow. 

The younger woman wants to shoot back with, “Why don’t you tell me how was yours?” and she’d actually said it, oh gods, she had just meant to think it and find some sort of bullshit answer to reassure her things were fine but now.. now she’d started something and she knew it from the second the words left her lips before she could even look back and up into those deep blue eyes which she knew if she did she would see the fire inside them. So much for talking about things and not starting anything. 

“It went well dear, she’ll be here in two days but I’m sure she told you the same as she informed me,” she begins to strip down and out of her clothes, oh this was not good, she’d have to answer if Mal was to stay, she’d have to ask and answer, she swallows thickly, why had Cora had to come and stick her nose in now?

“Yes she did mention, told me to tell you, but it would seem she beat me to it.”

“Anything interesting to discuss?” Mal slips in behind the brunette now, Regina shivers against the chilled skin now meeting her warmed body, she doesn’t just find herself shaking due to that but also at the anticipation, but that is just it, she doesn’t know what to expect, Mal seemed so neutral in the moment her tone remaining even. “She said she asked you where you’d been staying, the couch in the office? Really? You couldn’t just come home? Lay in bed with me? We don’t get to see each other nearly as much anymore, only when we are off work for the evening or a day off which neither of us even take anymore.” 

The blonde was choosing that route then, the one where she’d try and smooth the brunette down, work the truth out of her, but Regina knew the game well and this, the small bit she was keeping from her wife, had to remain a secret, it wasn’t as if the stripper would tell. Co-workers were a different story, but they didn’t know what had happened inside of that room, and they had all gone off to get their own so who even knew if they recognized her absence for what it was or wasn’t, but hadn’t they pointed the girl out again or had her eyes simply gone to find her? She can’t let herself dwell on thoughts like that, she’d had a few drinks.. could she blame her intoxication? 

And that was when she realized just how wrong this was, she was sitting here coming up with excuses rather than owning up to her actions. 

It was very true though, they didn’t even take days off anymore, besides Regina’s not being home at night to sleep any longer, it hadn’t been a discussion, it had simply been one of them going in an extra day and then the other would follow suit as there was no point to a day off alone in the flat. Then days off had become a myth, something they didn’t even talk about. They did barely see each other. 

“I’m tired of it Mal, I don’t want to fight over things, so I avoid it, I avoid coming home and I avoid you on those days we wake and are going at it right away, and I don’t even know what it is I’ve said or done to start it but somehow I always feel like it’s my fault!” she doesn’t mean to raise her voice, it shakes as she partially yells, and she feels bad about it and for it because here she was snapping when she was the one in the wrong, who had stepped out of line. She was withholding information again.. lying by omission. 

“So rather than try and talk it out to make things work you run? What are you Regina? A woman or a girl? Marriage isn’t easy, relationships aren’t easy, and most certainly life is not easy, you can’t keep taking the easy way out because look at us now Regi,” the brunette feels a slight pang in her heart at the nickname, it used to always be Regi, Reg, Gina. Now it was Regina or dear, it wasn’t the same and she wonders when it had all changed but right now her only thought is of the one of what makes Mal think she can call her a child; when she is acting just the same. Her mind wins the battle against her heart this time.

The tempers flare, the challenging flames appear in their eyes as they meet and visibly darken, “I am not a girl,” the brunette growls, a warning tone to the blonde to steer away from this topic. There were reasons she hated being referred to as a girl, all of them having to do with Cora’s way with words during the younger’s childhood as well as adulthood. The top dog in her own company, her multiple law firms, the woman had a way to cut anyone down to size with the use of her tongue, her words. 

“You are acting like a child,” the blondes hot breath is far from comfortable as she annunciates each word directly into the younger woman’s ear, Regina jerks away from her and turns to face her now sitting on the far side of the tub knees to her chest so she isn’t touching Mal. 

“If I’m such a child then why did you make me your wife? Hmm? Why are you still with a child?!” the older chuckles throatily.

“Oh so now we play turn it on me? How about we turn the spotlight back on you my sweet, why don’t you want to fix this? Why aren’t you making effort as much any more?”

“You’re not either! Instead you call Mother up! And do you know what she does? She calls me and accuses me of cheating on you! Of having someone else on the side and I do not have that I swear to you, please!” she doesn’t want to fight, she’s started it though, all on her own, she took this into her own hands when she spoke thoughts best left unsaid aloud. It’s not even truth what she’s just said and her chest feels tight, another lie, another secret, another omission. 

“She asked you if you were having an affair?” the blonde quirks a brow and Regina shrugs before pushing herself up and to her feet. She slinks out of the bath and as she goes past her wife a hand shoots out to grasp her wrist. They both flinch. The brunette at the sudden motion and action and the older woman at the reaction she actually witnessed without being in one of her anger induced hazes. “Regi, I’m sorry,” but the younger doesn’t wish to hear it right now, right now she’s drained, she just wants to go and lay down.

The next two days could not come fast enough and the short days her Mother would be staying here, well she wished she could sleep through those entirely. 

 

Mal finished the bath, Regina went and dried herself off before curling up in her robe and socks in bed, blankets are tugged up around herself. 

No words are exchanged between the two as Mal sits down on the other side, her side, of the bed; it hadn’t been a ‘sides to the bed’ situation in so long it seemed, because there hadn’t even been a bed situation. She knew she had messed this up somewhere along the way but then again so had Regina. But in the end they just needed each other right now and the younger especially would be needing her wife for the sole fact of Cora’s arrival, so for now even if they hadn’t worked things out by the time Cora arrived, the blonde knew they would have to appear as if they had, and she would still have to be there for the younger woman even if she wanted to be far away from her. She loved her, she still did, they just had that one subject that they did not agree on, and she couldn’t even begin to explain to Regina as to why she was so against it all. 

The blonde was not oblivious to rocky relationship between Mother and daughter, but she knew not to step in between or try and tell one or the other how to do or what to do. She knew the relationship from both sides. She had once been a Mother besides having had her own of course, and this was the little bit that her wife was unaware of.

 

[22 Years Ago…]

 

He holds her hand even as she screams at him that it’s all his fault, yells obscenities at him, tells him this is the only time, “Just one more push Querida,” he whispers softly kissing her forehead and she growls, huffing taking a deep breath before pushing one more time, a million and one smart remarks to shoot back at him coming to mind as she feels that relief. 

Mal falls back against the bed, her grip on her husband’s hand falls slack, she pants, her skin is flushed and her eyes are darting around, “It’s a beautiful baby girl, we’ll just get her cleaned up and Mom too,” the Doctor says with a smile and she relaxes having seen her. 

Soon enough in what seems to be seconds though she knows it’s not she’s got her in her arms, “Lilith, Lilith de la Vega,” the blonde smiles softly. Diego beams and kisses both of his girls foreheads.

“Our little Lily,” she already has a thick, dark head of hair thanks to her Father, Mal is hopeful it will have his natural curl to it as well as it grows in, and she’s sure their little girl has his chocolate orbs too.

“Mommy loves you baby girl, I’ll always protect you, I promise.”

 

[Back To Present Day…]

 

The blonde fiddles with her watch, the small button on the side moves in and the face lifts to reveal the hidden locket, the secret that it really is and contains, the smallest picture of a little girl, one with soft, loose curls, brown hair, dark eyes, just like her Father’s. The pad of her thumb caresses the image and she squeezes her eyes shut before closing the watch once more, hiding her secret away once more.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to those who have stuck with me , I know this is beyond long over due , let me know what you think ? I'm off to go edit and write some more , as always check tags , they have not changed of yet but more will be becoming relevant in the chapters to follow so please check . 
> 
> Thank you all ENJOY !

The sun shines in, peeking through the smallest crack in the blinds, the one blind was slightly off track just because it was at the point they usually were raised to. Regina groans and rolls away from it not yet wanting to get up and face the world, she hadn’t heard any alarms.. had she forgotten them? Realization dawns as she ends up against a body when she turns, Mal was still here, it was the weekend, or rather their weekend, and for once neither of them had set alarms, neither of them had woken to slip from bed or wherever they had chosen to sleep that night to make it off to work. 

Her gut twists, here things were changing, and it seemed like the blonde wanted to try, wanted to work on things, or was it just the facade, the practice for when Mother would arrive, which was quick approaching, she couldn’t tell, she wouldn’t ask. Then at the back of her mind that soft whisper, that guilt, the kiss that shouldn’t have happened, the dance that shouldn’t have happened… dances her mind corrects. The younger woman doesn’t even realize that she is shaking her head until her wife groans, “Regi stop, s’too early,” she mumbles slipping an arm around her waist tugging her closer. 

She should just tell her, just get it over with, be honest, let the truth be known and then they can start from the beginning with fixing it all right? Wouldn’t that be better? But if she told her this now, prior to Cora arriving… there would be no way that the brunette’s Mother would not be informed and Regina wouldn’t be surprised if the business woman didn’t find a way to magically be there in an instant to slap her and ask her what the hell she had been thinking or doing. No. She had to wait until after her Mother was done with her little visit, she didn’t want to keep secrets, didn’t want to keep this, didn’t want to hurt her wife, the woman she loved… she did love her didn’t she? But she had already hurt her, by stepping out of line in the first place. 

Regina had always believed you couldn’t hurt someone you loved, but then again look at who had given birth to her. Perhaps it was best to think that one shouldn’t or at least shouldn’t wish to hurt a loved one. She hadn’t, or rater hadn’t intended to, but it was inevitable now, Mal was going to hurt. 

“Mal..” her tone is soft, a barely there whisper and she’s unsure of what exactly it is she’s even going to say right now let alone what the blonde’s reaction to her words will be once she’s chosen them.

A soft hum is her response and after a brief moment of silence she assumes that will be all she is going to receive. 

“Once Mother has left, can we sit down and talk.. I know we need to and I don’t think either of us will ever be one hundred percent ready or prepared for it but-”

She doesn’t get to finish that sentence, “It needs to happen, I know, and yes, once Mother dearest leaves us after causing her chaos as usual we can talk as much as we need to, maybe we should take some time off.. reconnect?”

That was an idea, a good one, if they spoke, worked on starting to rebuild, to heal, and then took some time to just be them, find what that was now, as they weren’t the same as they once were and they had lost both themselves as well as each other in all this fighting in all honesty. They could work through this after all right? 

Regina nods, “I think it would be good for the both of us, we don’t talk like we used to Mal, and I just..” there was so much that still bothered the brunette about their initial argument those years ago, the fight that had seemed to kick it all off and set things into motion, what had in her mind gotten them to this point. The butterfly effect. 

“Well at least we can agree on something,” the older woman teases with a soft curl upwards of the corners of her lips. 

The lawyer stretches, slipping from her wife’s arms, “We need to get something in our stomachs and get the day started, even if we are actually going to take the day off. First we need to both let our firms know,” her Mother would love to hear word of this too wouldn’t she? Oh and she would of course because someone at one of the firms would say something to someone else and so on and so forth and news would travel between buildings quickly finding it’s way to the top. Cora. “I’ll get the coffee going, make my call and catch a shower before making breakfast,” she didn’t want to leave their home today, not if she didn’t have to, on top of that they really shouldn’t or couldn’t as her Mother’s arrival would mean calling in help for cleaning as well as doing their own part. 

It wouldn’t be a fun day and tomorrow they’d be back to work and picking Cora up the following morning bright and early from the airport, she’d been out of town for who knew what now. 

She finds her robe and slips into it tying the belt loosely before finds her slippers heading out of their room to let the blonde get herself up and ready whilst she takes care of her business and caffeine supply for them both. 

 

The coffee is brewed and poured, she’s called her firm to inform them she won’t be in today, she even mentioned the possibility of not being in tomorrow or the following two days as her Mother would be in town, she’d be able to get more work done around the house or some quiet computer work done from home rather than going to the office tomorrow. It wasn’t a definite decision but she was leaning more towards not going in, just taking the time off straight through Cora’s visit. 

She places the pot back onto the machine when suddenly warm arms envelop her waist and she can’t help the startled jump as she hadn’t even heard her come down, “Don’t you sneak up on me like that!” she scolds turning in those arms to face her wife crossing her arms and scowling. 

The blonde chuckles and leans in to peck her cheek, “My apologies I won’t let it happen again,” she shakes her head and reaches off to the brunette’s left grabbing one of the mugs, “Made the same?” 

Now the younger rolls her eyes, “Just the two sugars, as if we don’t take our coffee the same way,” she shakes her head turning slightly to grab the other mug holding it up and clinking it with Mal’s, “Cheers.”

Ocean blues roll jokingly.

 

In a much smaller apartment another blonde, a younger one, chases after her son, “Henry August Swan!” his middle name had come from one of the only foster siblings the blonde truly missed. The red head had been seven years older than her when she’d first arrived at that home and she’d ended up staying there for five years, it was her third to last before she had called it quits on the system and met Henry’s Father. She hadn’t even been with him long before she’d come to find out she was pregnant, it really only took a few times for some didn’t it? It wasn’t like they were using true protection anyways. 

August had been a big brother and protector to her as much as he could, thirteen at the time she’d ended up in the home with him and once he’d aged out the fosters had given her up again as she became a flight risk always trying to sneak off to his, they had sworn he’d adopt her or claim guardianship once he was legal to get her out too but they hadn’t known at the time all that would or had entailed, it had been a pipe dream and quickly crushed when the blonde was bounced once more. 

Eleven years old she found a nice family, they only had one other kid at the time a little girl, she couldn’t remember her name for the life of her but she did remember her friend she’d made at school and in the neighborhood. A friend that she grew so close to so quickly only to have her taken one night in an accident, Emma was in that home for a total of a year before they decided they wanted a younger kid that wasn’t traumatized or messed up. She had laid low at her final stop before running off, four years, or nearly that, she had made it there. 

The five year old squeals and continues on with his running not giving a care what his Mother is saying to him, until he steps on his own sock that is slipping off and tumbles, “M-Mommy!” he wails as he had landed flat on his face, his knees hurt and he’d bumped his nose just enough for it to ache badly. 

The young Mother is to her son’s side in an instant gathering him up and into her arms, sitting down on the floor with him, rocking him gently and holding his head to the crook of her neck, “Baby boy, shh shh Mama’s got you, we don’t run inside do we?”

He let’s out another sob and she just rubs his back in circular patterns hoping to soothe him, “How about we get some dino ice for the boo-boo’s?” his little reusable ice pack that had little T-rex all over it. 

She feels the small movement of his head up and down, she pushes expertly to her feet without the use of hands as she holds him close knowing better than to try putting him down right now lest she wants a full on tantrum. 

As soon as the ‘magical’ ice pack is retrieved he squirms to be let down, she makes it to the living room before complying and letting him down fully onto the couch, “Squirmy wormy let me get dino on ya and then we can watch some cartoons how about that?” he nods excitedly a wide grin spreading across his small features as she places the pack over his knees and kisses his forehead. Emma is just about to sit herself when she hears a knock and she suspects it had to be either Ruby or Gran, they knew she was off tonight and so she was taking full advantage and staying up with the kid even though exhausted, she would nap with him at nap time for sure.

Sure enough the door is opened to reveal none other than Ruby, “I brought some sweet rolls that Gran made, how’s my little man?” she slips in past her friend and sees Henry on the couch ice pack in place, “Uh-oh, what happened?”

“I was runnin’,” at least he was honest as their neighbor makes it past him to place the basket down on the coffee table before grabbing one out to split it with the boy and taking up residence on the couch next to him. Emma closes the door, reaches to grab a roll and plops down on the other side of her son, she and Ruby lean in to snuggle a bit closer to Henry and he beams happily. They all enjoy the cartoons and fresh rolls, days that both women were off truly were the best. 

 

It’s just after three and Regina has decided that she’s going to make lasagna for dinner tonight for them, they’d been cleaning all morning before the hired help had come to take over, once they had arrived lunch had been had and a few hours of simple relaxation, each having found book to sit and read. The pasta is on, she’s got the meat going, they would have an earlier dinner tonight because she wanted to try and be down early to get ready for this early morning back to work and then earlier morning to follow to retrieve Cora. 

Mal had gone to pay the help, afterwards she’d gone to change into some pajamas and a robe, calling it enough of a day being dressed even though she had been in her comfier, cleaning clothes, and she’d begun a load of laundry, she switches it over to the dryer now before making her way into the kitchen. The blonde slips up onto one of the stools at the islander, the younger woman turns her head to glance over her shoulder, “Hmm?”

“Just making sure I’m out of the way,” she chuckles, “Sure you don’t want me to take over watching so you can slip into something more comfortable? I can handle watching pasta and meat,” she knows better than to offer to take over cooking or anything like that because Regina had a thing about control for her meal making and baking as well. 

“I’ll change once it’s in the oven..” what did they talk about? Besides work? Wow.. was this where they were? They had really become so strained, they hadn’t even realized it was happening so badly, or perhaps they had, just hadn’t addressed it or had thought the other would decide to bring it up first. 

Things were nowhere how they had once been, the two were not in love the same as they’d been once upon a time, and when things had changed exactly was hard to pinpoint, after all it wasn’t as if falling out of love was an overnight affair, no it took time just as falling in did. That first big fight, it had been the starting point, they hadn’t known that then of course, hadn’t known it in the moment, and it wasn’t visible until too late, all the arguments piling up, the insults adding up, being grabbed too hard one time too many, spending a night away more often than not, everything added up. Each contributing factor perhaps started off small in quantity, a once or twice done, but then it had all been going on and off, following through the cycle for two years. How were they supposed to have hope of surviving when they would both rather run and hide than confront, risk another argument? When had that become the fear? The reason they wouldn’t talk? 

They still had their good times of course, it was not all bad, not all fighting. 

Baths together on the rare occasions that they two were home together, one would find the other and slip in behind, they did still sleep together when they both found their way to bed, in both the innocent and intimate senses of the word, the blonde even still made a point to send Regina flowers to her office or to the door for their monthly anniversaries no matter what they were going through, telling her she deserved it, for dealing with her. The rift that now existed between them had grown gradually, it wasn’t as if there really were a true and discernible time line as to when and where exactly the love had changed, lessened, however you would word such a thing. 

Love was complex and complicated after all and relationships didn’t require it, sex didn’t, sadly nor did marriage, of course society dictated that those things should involve it, yes it seemed they were more enjoyable and longer lasting with love, but it was just not always the case. 

 

 

[5 Years Ago…]

 

The blonde scoops her wife up, yes wife, oh it was a wonderful thing to be able to call each other that now, they were married for just over a week and that had to be one of the best things so far, just introducing the other as their wife. They had kept their own names for both personal and business preference, it was better if they would have used their maiden names at the work place even if they had changed to one or the other or a combination of the two, but neither of them had desired such so the decision had been nonexistent. But they were married and happily so. 

“Put me down right this instant!” the brunette protests swatting playfully at the older woman’s chest. If there was one thing she hated was being picked up and carried around and Mal knew it, hence why she did it, just to mess with her. They’d just gotten home from their honeymoon, they had left for it directly after the ceremony and after party and now the blonde has Regina in her arms bridal style to carry her into their new home, their new flat. 

“No, no dear it’s bad luck for the bride to walk into her new home don’t you know!” she teases kissing her all over her cheeks and neck and wherever else she can reach as the smaller woman squirms. 

“Then you should be floating as you shouldn’t be touching the ground either!” she huffs and finally she’s being lowered down as they enter their new bedroom and oh, Mal had picked a heavenly bed and all of Regina’s protests cease, “Oh, this is.. this is nice,” she feels herself sinking into the memory foam top, “I am not leaving this bed for the rest of the day,” she groans, it felt so good on her aching back and muscles. The flight back hadn’t been bad but flying always left her sore and cramped up, sitting for too long in the tight quarters even in a better class there still wasn’t exactly an excessive amount of move room and there was the amount of time one was required to sit, seatbelt light on, add in that walking on the plane while it was up didn’t always go well with her stomach and well.. Regina was definitely not leaving this bed today. 

“Well then I suppose I should go and grab the wine and we can have a glass, we can find a nice little movie to watch,” the brunette simply hums but as soon as Mal goes to leave she lets out a whine, “Yes dear?” the blonde quirks a brow.

“Save that, just come to bed, please, I just want to lay with you,” she reaches an arm towards the woman who is too far away in her opinion. Mal let’s out a chuckle and makes her way back closer to to the brunette, she stays just out of her reach, just out of her grasp, the younger woman’s fingertips barely brush along the lighter’s arm. “Stop teasing,” she huffs.

The blonde smirks, “Teasing?” a perfectly sculpted brow raises, “I think you will know full well if I am teasing,” she launches forward then crawling onto the bed to hover above the smaller frame, her head dips down, her lips come to press along a slender throat, “I can show you teasing dear,” she playfully nips at Regina’s neck before coming up to give her a quick peck and then rolls down beside her, tugging her close, wrapping her arms around her. “For now just the cuddles,” Regina moves to bury her face in the crook of Mal’s neck, this was happiness, this was what she’d always been looking for hadn’t it? 

Soft touches, gentle kisses, they end up just laying there losing track of time, getting lost in each other, all thoughts of teasing, of wine and a movie are forgotten. 

They had met three years prior, a chance meeting, or so it had seemed, Regina had simply gone to stop by her Mother’s office and there the beautiful blonde had been, apparently wishing to start working in one of Cora’s firms. When her daughter had entered the older brunette had introduced her of course and asked her to wait one moment whilst Mal finished off with the last of her paper work to officially start work. 

Regina had found out that she would be working in the same office as her, and it had just taken off from there, they had even ended up partners, things quickly forming between the two, before they even knew what was happening they’d ended up kissing. Now here they were. At the start of the next chapter. 

 

 

[Back To Present Day…]

Dinner is ready and Regina changed, she dishes out the portions, sets the table, pours the drinks and calls for her wife, now they could enjoy a nice dinner together, they could just forget about Cora, about trouble in paradise, just have this for now. They could talk more another day, there would be time later to tell the blonde of her transgressions, for now Regina gets lost in memories, as she sits across the small table from Mal, as she looks up to see that soft smile, those bright eyes, “Thanks for dinner Regi,” how had they ended up here?


	6. Chapter 6

Mal is the first to rouse in the morning, it’s that morning, they’ve got to pick Cora up from the airport in about two hours, the blonde knows full well there is no way in hell she is getting Regina to go without making them both coffee first, she requires it as well herself but the brunette will not leave the house without a cup and the older woman wouldn’t wish an un-caffeinated younger lawyer on her worst of enemies. Regina had a harsh tongue, especially when she was cranky or grouchy, but one didn’t dare to call her such nor point it out so Mal stuck to just making sure that her wife had her black with two sugars each and every morning. 

The smell of the dark roast pulls Regina from bed as the scent wafts through the flat, of course Mal had left the door open to let this happen, she knew that nose would pick up on the craving, it always did. She slips her robe on tying it around her waist loosely before finding slippers and padding out into the kitchen still rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand whilst the other extends reaching for the mug she knows must be ready for her. Sure enough it is and the brunette is more than content to sip the steaming liquid slowly, humming to herself as she moves to sit at one of stools at the islander. 

“Can we not simply pretend that we have forgotten the date? We can go back to bed after coffee and food, we don’t have to leave for the rest of the day, we can shut our phones off and all,” Regina jokes, she knows of course that even if they did that Cora would still show up on their doorstep and she would be none too pleased with the happenings. Mal chuckles, nodding as she slides the plates onto the islander and moves to sit directly across from her wife. 

“As much as I love the idea I think we both know full well that would never work, we would end up in far more trouble than either of us wishes to and the joke would not be worth it any longer,” the brunette sighs before moving to grab the fork offered. 

“Mhmm, you have to be a party pooper don’t you? Have to ruin all the fun?” 

The blonde smirks, “You know me so well, now let’s just get this over with as soon as possible, the sooner we get her here the sooner she can leave.”

 

About two hours later and they are pulling up at the front of the airport, the pickup point for the arrival terminal, Mal steps out of the car and stands so that she can immediately help Cora with her luggage and Regina slips from the passengers seat out into the back seat. Her Mother took front always. 

“Mal darling!” the older brunette exclaims as she comes out of the automatic doors and sees her daughter’s wife right away. Regina shrinks down in her seat in the car, her own Mother was happier to see her wife over her. Or so that was how she felt.

Little did she know that there was far more history between the two women than either of them had ever told, because if she knew then some things would appear in a new light. 

 

 

[ 9 Years Ago…] 

The blonde makes her way into the office for another appointment date and time set with her lawyer, her legal advisor but also someone who was quick becoming a friend and comfort in these trying times. 

It wasn’t working out for her and her husband any longer and though she knew Diego would never screw her over intentionally she had to be smart about this and careful. They’d had a lot of joint things, many of which involved money and savings of such. Savings that were no longer needed… savings meant for someone… their daughter, but how did one tell just how much was one or the other’s when neither of them had prepared for this, thought that this was a possibility? 

Yet here they were. 

“Ms Dracaena, you’re early, I’ll let her know you’re he- ,” the secretary begins but is cut off as Cora steps out of her office waving her in.

“Come along Mal, let us go over a few things,” the secretary had at least finally learned to call her by her maiden name once more even if the name change and divorce were not final yet Mal hated going by her married name, it held too much pain now, broken memories, hope for things that would never be anymore. 

They were barely in to meeting thus far on the affair but Cora had already decided that she quite liked the blonde woman from the first day she had walked in, the way she dressed, she wore power with her pant suits, even when things were clearly falling apart all around her the woman still held her head high and Cora liked that quality a lot. She wished her daughter would show some of the same, she swore at times that if it weren’t for the names nor the looks there would be no way one would guess Regina was hers. 

“So I managed some digging as I had told you I would,” the brunette starts right off as they enter the office closing the door behind them, “And we can trace at least the transfers into the account to tell who did which, if any cash was added the most we can do is try and get a deal to split that amount 50/50. I’d like to try and see if we cannot work this out amongst ourselves, the four of us and avoid a court date. I just do not feel there is any need for that stress or emotional strain if it is unnecessary.”

The younger woman nods and takes a moment to think, to process, “I think you are right in that sense, we will have to simply subtract out the costs… from…” she clears her throat, from the funeral. 

“And what do you think you’ll be doing after all of this dear? You said you want a fresh start, new job and all, is the firm you are with not accommodating?” Forever trying to know more and learn more, Cora liked to know all the information and she also had an idea in mind, and she was one to get what she wanted or what she planned to get … always. 

“They are accommodating me well, I just cannot be around the same people, I don’t want the forever apologies, the sad looks, the pity party, I want to be able to go to work to forget, I have already begun searching for a new place, Diego took most of his things out of the house already and placed a significant amount in storage, he has an apartment already. I never asked him to leave, for the record.”

And Cora is just about to respond when the buzz of her intercom sounds, “Yes?”

“Mrs. Mills you have a visitor.” 

Ah Regina was here. She had scolded her secretary time and time again for saying ‘your daughter’ and therefore had agreed upon the term guest or visitor, other wise the woman would announce the person by name. 

“Send her in.”

Mal quirks a brow a bit confused as to how Cora knew the visitor was a woman, was she expecting someone else? This had been a booked appointment, she was thoroughly confused and a little angry about the interruption as well.

Regina slips through the door and ocean blues are glued to the woman immediately, she was … wow.

The blonde was openly bisexual, she had been with equally as many woman as men in her days she would say if guessing roughly, she’d simply married Diego because love was love, she loved him and had wanted a family with him, it didn’t mean she was not still attracted to women. She stands from her chair and extends a hand to the younger woman who looks oddly similar to Cora, “Mal this is Regina, my daughter,” and oh the oldest brunette had seen that look. It wasn’t one sided either, as Cora watches Regina’s eyes trail up and down the blonde’s body before she takes the offered hand. 

“My apologies for interrupting you both, I can wait outside if you wish Mother,” her cheeks are the slightest hint of pink, she sees how dark orbs look at her pointedly and she realizes that her checking out of the other was noted. 

The answer she receives is not one she has planned for, “No dear come and sit with us I was actually just speaking to Mal about finding a new firm for her to work at,” the blonde is thankful that the older brunette doesn’t give her daughter the real reason she is here, the divorce, she’s also not sure why Cora has made it seem as if they discussed this but it was a wonderful offer if she was serious in it and not just playing a scene out. “And what if she were to come and work for one of ours?” by ours of course Cora simply meant that the Mills name was branded on the buildings, not that Regina had any say in the business, nor her husband. “I could offer you to start off where Regina is at present, I trust her to help you and answer any and all questions you may have.”

“Of course I could show her around and help Mother, if she wishes to join us in the firm,” she is perfectly obedient daughter that Cora always wants her to be in that moment, the older brunette loved to catch Regina in situations like this, have someone new around, someone who didn’t know just how cruel of a Mother she was, then the younger had no choice but to be well mannered and respond properly instead of her usual smart mouth that only ever got her into more trouble. 

Mal doesn’t know why because she hasn’t even had time to properly think this through, she hadn’t agreed to anything, they hadn’t discussed this per say but the way that those mocha orbs look at her, how the young woman looks like she wants her to just say yes, because she does, the blonde is nodding before she opens her mouth to respond properly. “I would love if you could start me off with a tour, perhaps of a few other offices as well if there are others close to here, I live in the vicinity, (she would find a new place in it as well) I don’t wish to be traveling too far for work unless of course it is required by work, a case.” 

“I can show you as soon as you are finished with Mother if there was anything else you wished to discuss,” she turns to raise her gaze to her Mother, “I simply wished to drop these off in person,” she reaches into her bag to pull out two envelops, Mal could guess they were checks, payments for whatever cases the young woman had worked and probably just partnered with her Mother or had taken for her. Either way the money was the firms. 

Cora nods and takes them moving to slip them into a top drawer of her desk, she would check them and deal with them later, “Why don’t you go and grab some coffee for all of us while Ms. Dracaena and I finish up our business Regina?”

She intentionally uses the name, giving her daughter the information she knew she deep down had craved, was this beauty single and did her Mother approve, because if she hadn’t then even if she’d been single she’d have come up with the Mrs. title. 

 

 

[ Back To Present Day … ] 

They make it back to the penthouse and Regina swears she wants to just shrink away into a corner, Mal had sworn she wouldn’t fall into the trap known as Cora and yet there the two of them are on the sofa glasses in hand as they catch up and chat away like two old friends, and well… they were. The younger brunette moves into the kitchen and rests against the islander a glass of water is her choice, she didn’t need to hear anything from either of them about why was she drinking so early in the day even though she could easily shoot the words right back at them, but of course that would never go over well, it was fine for them to do, or rather it was fine for Cora to do and allow Mal to do but never alright for Regina to try and partake. 

“Regina dear!” she sighs at the calling of her name, this was where the fun all began wasn’t it? This would be where her Mother would try to start something that didn’t need to be started or that didn’t exist… only, well there was issue this time, there was the unresolved tension between herself and Mal, but they’d agreed to push through and make it through for now, just until the older brunette came and went, then they would figure it out, talk it out, sort it, then Regina would tell her of what she’d done and how she should never have. If Cora had even the slightest inkling though, if she had any clue or still had that idea of an affair she would look for more clues, anything, from how close or far Regina chose to sit, to how she looked at her wife, she’d scrutinize everything and she knew this well. 

“Do you need more drink? Water?” She figures she’ll offer that to give herself one moment to psych herself up.

“No just come along, join your wife and I, it’s been quite some time now since we have all been together has it not?”

A sigh leaves crimson lips as she swallows down more of her water before bringing just it and herself into the living room, the picture perfect smile on her face as she makes her way over to Mal’s other side and slips in next to her rather close, her hand not holding her glass comes down to rest on the blonde’s thigh squeezing it gently and blue orbs glimmer as they turn to capture mocha and silently ask if she is alright.

“I was telling Mal that I think a lovely pasta primavera would be ideal for dinner tonight, I brought a bottle to go along with it, we can each have a taste then,” because Cora knew full well that Mal was not a fan of Regina getting drunk, she wasn’t either but she also was not like Mal in the sense of she would not bring anything around or initiate drinks, Cora would intentionally do things like this to see what she could start, and then she would always swoop in to calm things and somehow it always became her daughter’s own fault.

“I hadn’t actually planned on cooking anything Mother, I was going to ask where you’d like to go and we could make reservations, even rent a private corner or room depending on where we go..” and she knows she’s messed up before the older brunette’s eyes are even felt on her, and Mal quickly places a hand over her wife’s as she can sense the sudden fear and anxiety that has shot through her. Cora was very particular. 

“You weren’t going to let us have a nice home cooked meal? You don’t want to be in the comforts of your own place with your family?” and oh that word slices when Cora says it as she knows they have fought about children and expanding, and making an actual family. Of course her Mother and her wife were family, but that was not how the older woman had meant it, that much was clear to Regina as she catches that glimmer of mischief in eyes that match her own. 

“If that is what you wish for Mother I can run out to gather what we would need and I will gladly make that for dinner,” the click of her tongue tells the younger woman that no this would not be acceptable, she doesn’t want to start a fight now, doesn’t wish to get into it with her Mother now, especially not in front of her wife. Yes Mal knew of the strained and not so perfect relationship between Mother and daughter but that did not mean Regina wished her to see things first hand, she’d hidden a lot from her wife not wishing her to worry nor know the full extent. This was a going to be a rough visit, she can tell that Cora has come in the mood to get reactions, but how does she excuse them for now? 

“No, no I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you now would I?” Its a question meant to sound as if she cares but they both know that is not the case, that she is doing this to goad, looking for a reaction, something to get Regina to snap or nearly so and she would tone her back down, remind her that she was her Mother, that she was the reason she had been allowed to marry her lover turned wife, remind her that she was the one who employed the both of them as well as paid for the majority of their penthouse. 

The younger swallows thickly, “It is not any problem Mother I will make whatever it is you wish to have, I simply did not know what you wished for, I can run to the store if we don’t have the ingredients, I can, really it is not any inconvenience.”

Mal looks from one brunette to the other unsure of if she should say anything or just let them go, she didn’t understand why there was issue, but she had known Cora long enough to know she was a very trying woman and particular about things as well, “No it’s fine Regina I can survive, I am sure there are places around town suitable for dinner.”

Regina let’s out a sigh and that seems to be it, that seems to be what does it, “A word.” she stands and makes her way to the kitchen, Regina gives her wife a look that says she’s sorry and also to just stay and let her handle it, the blonde doesn’t like it, she doesn’t like the idea of leaving the two of them unsupervised together, Regina had told her before that her Mother was not nice, that she had raised hand to her many times when she was younger, she had never stopped but the younger brunette had not told her that, she hadn’t wished to have that be any issue, after all this was a friend of her wife’s and she remembers all too well the day that she had first met the blonde and realized that her Mother was aiding her through some sort of hard time. To this day the younger still did not know of the actual reasons for the blonde having been in the office that day. 

And so she drags herself up and into the kitchen to find Cora already leaning back against the counter with her arms crossed, “So you still do not know how to properly host do you? What do you know how to do properly? You’re destroying your marriage single handedly, do you not think I notice the two of you trying to play me for a fool? Did you really think I would believe that in the two days I was not here you solved all of your issues? I still do not have any grandchildren from you because you cannot even persuade your wife into adoption and here you are not getting any younger.” 

Regina feels her anger rise, feels her emotions going haywire, why did she always have to do this? Attack her and dig for all of her weak points? She knows deep down that she shouldn’t respond, that she should just let the older woman talk herself out, but she can’t, no she needs to stand up to her, she’s let herself be pushed around for far too long. 

“If there is anything that I do not know how to properly do that is /your/ fault, /your/ doing! You are the one who raised me after all are you not?” and she cannot even believe herself right now, she’s shaking internally as she is a mess of nerves and anxiety, what would standing up to this woman mean for her? Cora was not one to take to back talk well and as she looks directly into mocha orbs that match her own Regina sees the fire within, knows that she is perhaps biting off more than she can chew. 

“Do /not/ take that tone with me! And what are you getting at? Are you trying to cause a scene? Think your wife will rush in to your rescue and aid? She won’t stand between an issue that she has no business with, this is between us, Mother and child,” and oh there was that dreaded word again, as bad as when she would call her a girl, it made her skin crawl, her fists clench at her sides as does her jaw. 

“Mother..” her voice is low, a warning growl of sorts and Cora let’s out a laugh.

“Oh Regina, you think you have a chance now that you are all grown up? Well let me tell you, first of all you are far from grown, second of all there is no way in hell that I will ever fear you or back down because you decide to try and stand up for yourself, you should have fought harder when you were younger and perhaps then I wouldn’t have had to be so cruel to you,” she clicks her tongue. 

“You know nothing! You make a big deal out of the fact that I was thinking we could all go out to a nice sit down, where none of us would have to cook or clean and it’s an issue! I offer to go and grab the ingredients instead and you can’t be satisfied with that either, so tell me what is it that you want me to do?”

“I want you to do nothing! I will handle the arrangements for dinner seeing as you cannot even handle that and you will go back in there after you clean up your face and collect yourself. Do you understand me?”

She doesn’t know what possesses her to but she shakes her head and stands taller suddenly trying to somehow intimidate the other woman and it’s a mistake that she doesn’t even think about the second she makes it, but oh she will see it soon enough, “No Mother I do not understand because I am trying to accommodate you with all that I can, I admit that I perhaps should have asked you what you would’ve preferred as I know you are rather particular with things but I messed up is that what you want to hear me say? Do you want me to confess to some love affair? Because you seem convinced that I cannot actually be spending time at work or nights at the office!” And oh she had not meant to raise her voice. 

Mal hears the shouting now from her wife now and stands moving towards the kitchen entrance but not yet attempting or daring to step inside, she didn’t want to add fuel to the fire but she wanted to be ready to diffuse the situation should it not do so naturally or on it’s own, seeing as she knew both women and how they both could be, she had known them long enough, witnessed them together and separately. 

“You are stepping out of line Regina you had best watch yourself and your tone, if I were you I would not want to draw attention, despite what you think I am not trying to cause some scene but it would appear you are, if I were I would not have asked you to leave the room, but you are back to your ways, I will not be drawn into your childish games! If you wish to continue on with this behavior then I will gladly tell your wife that you are not feeling well and I shall go to dinner with her myself later, I can handle making simple reservations whereas it seems you cannot even manage that, you don’t have food then you say you could make reservations, meaning you didn’t have anything planned, did you even want me to come Regina?!”

“No!” She screams it out before she can even think what she’s saying and oh gods… no… she had not meant to say… 

The sound registers before the action does, before the sting, before her eyes even send the image to her brain, by the time they do it’s all said and done and only a gasp can be heard as her own hand comes up to cover her cheek where her Mother’s hand had just left it’s mark.


End file.
